Disney's The Muppets flourished thanks to nostalgic adults and young people who grew up loving Jim Henson's characters, so hopefully everyone remains enamored with the next installment. The cast includes human additions Tina Fey, Ty Burell and Ricky Gervais joining our felt heroes on a somewhat-familiar European caper adventure, with James Bobin once again directing and Bret McKenzie crafting new showtunes.
Ray Liotta is now coming aboard, just ahead of production beginning this month. In addition, rumors continue to circulate about what the official title for the Muppets sequel might be (hint: it's jokey and self-aware, in fitting Muppet style).
Variety is confirming that Liotta has been cast in the new Muppets movie, not long after he was announced for Sin City: A Dame to Kill For later this year (director Robert Rodriguez has since revealed that Liotta's already completed his Sin City 2 role). The actor is well-known for his tough guy screen persona; appropriately, one of the previous occasions in which he played against type was in Muppets from Space, where Liotta cameoed as a hoodwinked security guard. His role in the latest Muppets movie is currently under-wraps.
As for the other non-puppet stars:
- Gervais is playing the male lead "whose intentions are always in question."
- Fey's appearing as a Russian gulag prison guard.
- Burrell will show up as "a lazy Interpol inspector," the role that Christoph Waltz was originally circling.
On that note: Waltz teased Collider last month about him possibility cameoing in Muppets 2, during a song-and-dance number with Miss Piggy (a la "The First Time It Happens" in The Great Muppet Caper). We'll keep our fingers crossed for that to actually happen.
Last, but not least, when Disney confirmed the Muppets sequel for an early 2014 release date, the write-up from /Film mentioned the strongly-rumored title is The Muppets... Again. Obviously, most people aren't too concerned about what the movie's called - so long as "Muppets" is in there somewhere - but, as mentioned before, that would be an appropriately meta comedy nod to its sequel status (and, in a way, the noticeable similarities to Great Muppet Caper).
Will you be checking out The Muppets 2 (or whatever it's called), when it opens in theaters on March 21st, 2014? Rest assured, we'll be in line.
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