Cinema LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
LIITHE SHOP OF HORRORSTHE PLOUGH - LE GRAND CHARIOT
Directed by: Frank Oz (Estados Unidos)
CINEMATECA PORTUGUESA - MUSEU DO CINEMA - Sala M. Félix Ribeiro
27 May at 3pm (Wed) - Sala M. Félix Ribeiro
30 May at 4pm (Sat) - Sala Luís de Pina
⇨ TICKETS ONLINE Tickets available soon
Directed by: Frank Oz Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Vincent Gardenia, Steve Martin, James Belushi, Bill Murray Age guidance: +12 / United States, 1986, 94 min. / With Portuguese subtitles
Little Shop of Horrors celebrates its 40th anniversary this year!
A delightful dark comedy musical by the magical Frank Oz, lifelong friend of Jim Henson and one of his key collaborators on The Muppets. Inspired by Roger Corman’s eponymous 1960 film and the off-Broadway musical by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, the film also features a stellar cast of some of America’s finest comedians, including Bill Murray, Steve Martin, and John Candy.
Seymour Krelborn works at a small flower shop where business is struggling, and he is in love with his co-worker, Audrey. One day, following a solar eclipse, Seymour finds a strange plant. He buys it and decides to name it Audrey II. The small, exotic plant begins to attract many customers. While caring for it, Seymour accidentally cuts his finger and realizes that Audrey II has a great appetite for blood. As time passes, the plant grows more and more, demanding human flesh and blood to satisfy its insatiable appetite. Will Audrey II take over the world, or will Seymour and Audrey manage to defeat it?
Warning: Don’t feed the plants!
For the generation that grew up watching The Muppets, Frank Oz is the man behind Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear. For Star Wars fans, he is Yoda. But he is also Bert and Cookie Monster from Sesame Street.
In this film, Frank Oz's greatest challenge was creating Audrey II. The plant not only grows throughout the film until it becomes giant, but it also sings, dances, and eats people alive. It is one of the most complex and impressive puppets in the history of cinema. The fact that we still feel it is alive is a testament to the work behind it. It has a weight and presence that modern special effects often struggle to replicate.
The film used several animatronic versions of Audrey II, ranging from a small 10 cm sprout to a giant version over 3 meters tall. Although it was not an official Creature Shop production, many of its performers, designers, and technicians worked with Oz on the film. As Jim Henson mentioned in a 1987 interview, he was not involved with the puppets for Little Shop of Horrors, but "was very close to some of the people on that production." Among these were his children, Heather Henson, in a small role as a dental patient, and Brian Henson, who was one of the puppeteers for Audrey II. Other notable puppeteers include Stephen Mottram and Terry Lee from the Green Gingers.
Curiously enough, the film was not released with the originally filmed ending. During test screenings, audiences did not like the tragicomic ending (where the plant won). A new, happier, and more "Hollywood-style" ending was produced, and this time, the film pleased the audience.
BIO
Frank Oz (born 1944) is an actor, puppeteer, and director. He began his career as a puppeteer alongside Jim Henson, bringing to life Muppet characters such as Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam the Eagle, as well as Cookie Monster, Bert, and Grover on Sesame Street. He is also widely known for his role as Yoda in the Star Wars saga, voicing the character across several films and television series.
He co-directed The Dark Crystal (1982) with Jim Henson and directed the film The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984). Following Little Shop of Horrors, he went on to direct some of the most popular comedies of the last few decades, including Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), In & Out (1997), The Stepford Wives (2004), and Death at a Funeral (2007).