Nicholas Stoller on His Brand-New Muppet Movie and Sexy 9/11 Conspiracy Theorists

When you're writing a script called The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made, you're setting the bar awfully high, and when Get Him to the Greek director Nicholas Stoller began work on the upcoming Muppet reboot with cowriter Jason Segel (star of the Stoller-helmed Forgetting Sarah Marshall), he admits that he started freaking out.

"I mean, the first time I wrote the character of Kermit, I got chills. I couldn't believe I got to write for Kermit," Stoller told Movieline. "He has kind of a sly comedic sensibility in the original movie that we're trying to recapture for this one, so he's obviously awesome to write for."

Not so easy to write for? His favorite character Beaker -- "He doesn't really say anything" -- or Fozzie Bear, "because he has to tell a lot of Catskills-style jokes, and those are hard to think of," Stoller laughed. "When you do think of those jokes, even though they're terrible, you feel really proud of yourself for five minutes."

Stoller's a busy man right now: not only is he revising the latest draft of the Muppet movie (set to go before cameras soon for director James Bobin), he's promoting the DVD/Blu-ray release of Greek (out September 28), prepping his next directorial effort, a reteaming with Segel called The Five-Year Engagement, and gearing up for the winter release of Gulliver's Travels, which he cowrote.

Still, even a packed schedule like that one allows a few moments of ecstasy, as when Stoller recently got to see the design for a brand-new, super-secret Muppet he created for Bobin's film.

"It's pretty cute," he enthused, before going tight-lipped about exactly what the new creature will be. "Jason Segel is going to be in the movie, obviously, and he and this new Muppet are best friends. I don't think I'm supposed to say that much about it, but I can say that."

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