Who is this Brett Mckenzie Guy
This part elf, part tag-team comedian, and part Muppet is is something to see, and hear. Now, Brett McKenzie isn’t really joke telling elf Muppet, in physical form. It’s just what he has worked on over the coarse of his career, The actor and musician, known as one half of New Zealand comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, is also fan-fiction favorite Figwit in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit movies and the maestro behind every original song for The Muppets and Muppets Most Wanted.
Brett is know for when He won an Oscar for Best Song for writing “Man or Muppet,” the ballad sung by Jason Segel and his Muppet brother Walter in the 2011 film.
Lets Talk Music and Muppets
We caught up to the Muppets Songwriter Brett McKenzie a couple days before the Muppets Most Wanted Premiure, and shared his thoughts on creating the Muppets soundtrack.
Question – Since you won a Oscar in the 2011 Muppets film, was there some sort of expectaion in Muppets Most Wanted?
Brett – Obviously, yeah there was a lot of pressure because of the Oscar, but really what could I do? It was always gonna be downhill, you know what I mean I was appreciative but then I had to get on with the job and just, you know, forget about that.
Question – What is your creative process, how you put your songs together.
Brett – They (the directors) send me a script with the idea of a song and then usually have a loose idea of a song. For example the ballad, called “Love Ain’t Easy,” Piggy ballad. At first of all I was nervous because Piggy is a great character, a great comedic character, but not a great singer, and, um, I was worried about her carrying, you know, an emotional ballad because there’s only so much of her voice that the audience, I think, wants to hear, you know. Thirty seconds is great, you know, then a couple of minutes you’re really start being a bit painful. So I suggested we put, um, you know, try and get a singer to help her and we were really excited when Celine Dion agreed, um, and I’m actually hoping that there’s a, I’m hoping that these two divas, you know, um, I’m hoping to get like a Las Vegas Celine Dion/Piggy, uh, Diva Night, um, that’s–– that’s my dream. Yeah. Anyway so then I would write the song and then adapt it for the characters and, and I’d–– I’d go to the, to James Bobin and play it to him and I’d, one of the stranger experiences on the job is I go to the Disney offices to play the songs to them.
Question – Do you have a favorite song from this film that you wrote?
Brett – I do like “I’ll Get You What You Want” which is the bad frog trying to woo Miss Piggy.
We had a great time with Brett McKenzie during our interview time with him. He is naturally entertaining and creative when it come to music and lyrics. He even busted out in song, “I’ll Get You What You Want” from #MuppetsMostWanted .
After the Red Carpet Premiere of Muppets Most Wanted we ran into Brett McKenzie at the after party. We talked about the movie and cameos from celebrates in the movie. He explained that he doesn’t meet or see anybody, matter of fact he hardly goes to set. He said he was very please with Muppets Most Wanted, and could wait for his next songwriting opportunity. After snapping a shot with Brett, Staci and I both walked away saying… “What a nice guy”!
