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When Melissa McCarthy and Maya Rudolph appeared opposite Kristen Wiig in her 2011 breakout comedy hit Bridesmaids, who knew they would continue to do more movies together? Next summer, Warner Bros. is opening their comedy Life of the Party, directed by McCarthy’s husband Ben Falcone, on the same weekend as Bridesmaids opened in 2011.
Now, the Tracking Board can confirm that they’ll make it a triad as Rudolph will join McCarthy in her upcoming comedy The Happytime Murders, directed by Brian Henson, the son of the late Jim Henson.
The current chairman of the Jim Henson Company has followed in his father’s footsteps and is best known for his puppet work in classic films like Labyrinth and some of the Muppet movies. He also produced and directed The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island.
If that choice in directors might seem odd, it’s good to realize that the plot of The Happytime Murders involves a clash between two detectives, one a human (played by McCarthy) and one a puppet. They eventually need to settle their differences and work together to solve a string of murders, killing members of “The Happytime Gang” puppet show.
STXfilms is putting this project together along with production companies Henson Alternative and On the Day Productions, with McCarthy and Falcone producing along with Henson and Jeffrey Hayes. Lisa Henson, Dee Robertson and John W. Hyde are exec. producers.
The movie was written by Todd Berger, Dee Robertson, Erich and Jon Hoeber, and McCarthy, and it’s a project that the Henson Company has been trying to get off the ground for nearly ten years.
Repped by WME, 3 Arts Entertainment and Hirsch Wallerstein Hayum Matlof and Fishman, Rudolph provided her voice for the two recent animated comedies, Sony Pictures Animation’s The Emoji Movie and Open Road’s The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature.
Edward Douglas | East Coast Editor
