NOTE: This blog entry originally appeared in February 2012. Muppets creator Jim Henson died 25 years ago, May 16, 1990.
by Chad Campbell, senior producer
Jim Henson began writing a screenplay. When he showed it to production companies, they all agreed it was great, that he was a genius AND that there was no way to make it into a movie. Henson moved on, creating the Muppets, The Muppet Show and working on Sesame Street, but he continued to tweak his dark, desert story. It never was filmed and the script sat in a vault in the Henson family archive after Henson’s untimely death in 1990. Now, thanks to a partnership with Archaia, Tale of Sand is finally available — as a graphic novel. Stephen Christy is the editor-in-chief for the publishing company. He’s a life-long fan of Henson’s work and speaks eloquently about Henson’s legacy and abundant creativity. In our interview, Christy mentions the journal that Henson kept, just to get ideas out of his head. Click here for a sample of Jim Henson’s “Red Book.” Christy also says Henson’s Oscar-nominated short film Time Piece was a big inspiration for many of the choices made by artist Ramon Perez as he transformed Henson’s screenplay. Here is that trippy video from 1965, which stars Jim Henson and features music, sound effects and VERY little dialogue.
And here’s another sample of Ramon Perez’s art from Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand.
