Corey Edwards: Weinsteins Want Fraggle Movie To "Connect With An Older, More Sophisticated Audience"

Last month we told you that Fraggle Rock director/screenwriter Corey Edwards had been told that The Weinstein Company has begun a wide search for a new screenwriter to come aboard the project after demanding the the script was "not edgy enough." Edwards' blog post caused a stir in the blogosphere and we now have an update on the situation.

Edwards recently did an interview with YBMW.com, and says that his blog post "created quite a brushfire" as he "kind of thought it would."

"What it's also done is gotten people talking again. Since then, I've been able to sit down with Weinstein's new VP of Development and really talk about their issues with the movie. We've had some very good conversations about what they think "edgy" is and what I think "edgy" is. We got down to the philosophies of why to even make a Fraggle movie in the first place. And I think they've been able to qualify their word "edgy" with the word "older." They want this movie to connect with an older, more sophisticated audience. I want to help them figure out what that means so that we are both happy. But right now it's up to the studio to decide what they really want and how they're going to move forward.

I think it might be a smart move to create a Fraggle movie that will appeal to older audiences, as well as young. The children of the 1980's (like myself) who grew up watching the Fraggles on television are now in their late 20's, some maybe with children of their own. Because of this demographic, I think it's a good idea to make the film in tone with the earlier Muppet films than say the more recent releases which for the most part seemed dumbed down for child audiences.

As for the plot, Edwards confirms that the movie will include the characters Doc ("I have high hopes for a major actor to play that part"), his dog Sprocket, the great trash heap, the lovable little Doozers, but sadly not the Gorgs ("Gorgs have been a little tricky. You know, a lot of fans – and this includes people within the Jim Henson company, have said "you gotta put them in." But we've got a lot of things to do in one movie. I think the Gorgs could be a movie in themselves.") I personally think they need to change the idea from The Fraggles go into Outer Space (aka the real world where Traveling Matt has had his adventures) into a story that centers inside of Fraggle Rock itself. Not including the Gorgs in the movie would be a huge missed opportunity. But this could all change:

"Recently there have been a lot of new discussions about the script, and about the whole plot itself. The script is in a serious state of flux right now. The studio thought they knew what they wanted, encouraged me in a certain direction for two years, and now they want something different. So it's hard to even tell you what it's about at this point. I was way down the road on a story that I was passionate about, but now it's all up for debate. This is all frustrating, painful development stuff, but hopefully, ultimately, it's to make it the best movie possible."

Edwards says that he'll "only move forward if we're all happy, and that includes me."

"I really feel like I'm one of a very small handful of people that needs to be happy with moving forward. The studio needs to be happy, Henson needs to be happy, and I need to be excited about it. So, I wanna make sure that that happens. I have to get up every morning for months and months and months and be excited about it. So yeah, I won't move forward until I feel like the script is an exciting thing."

We'll keep you updated. As a huge fan of the Fraggles, I hope it happens. But at the same time, I hope they don't fuck it up — because it's probably only going to happen once. Read the full interview with Edwards on YBMW.com.