Jason Segel To Star In Muppets Movie He Wrote

Jason Segel has signed on to be the live action lead in a new Muppets movie that Segel wrote with his friend Nicholas Stoller.  Segel will also be serving as one of the producers on the film so to say this is a pet project would be putting it likely.  The casting should come as no surprise, and although Heat Vision claims the story is being kept under wraps, the fine folks over at /film have some insight of their own.

Segel’s role is as human Gary, a chap whose best friend is the puppet bear Walter. Together they go on a journey with Gary’s girlfriend Mary to defeat the evil Tex Richman, a man who doesn’t find the Muppets funny and thinks he can smell oil beneath their studio.

The idea as I understand it is that Gary, Segel's character, would be on a quest to reunite all the Muppets who have since gone their own separate ways.  Seems like a perfect setup to get the gang back together, almost like the Blue Brothers in a way.  Segel's comedy works with me and from what I've heard the Muppets are something he treats with the respect they are due.  Hopefully this all works out great and brings the Muppets back into the limelight.  

Of course theres also plans for an upcoming Fraggle Rock movie as well as a kickass script floating around called The Muppet Man that is sort of a fill-in-the-blanks type biography of Jim Henson.  The Muppet Man was even number one on this year's Black List, which features the "best" unproduced screenplays of the year.