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Big Bird film project raises money to profile Sesame Street puppeteer

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film project raises money to profile Sesame Street puppeteer | Television & radio | guardian.co.uk 8/22/12

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Big Bird film project raises money to profile Sesame Street puppeteer
Caroll Spinney has given life to Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird, and now a Kickstarter documentary hopes to tell his story
Adam Gabbat t guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 2 1 August 2 01 2 2 1 .00 BST

After portraying Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch since Sesame Street began more than 40 years ago, puppeteer Caroll Spinney is now set to have the spotlight turned on himself thanks to a successful online fundraising campaign. I Am Big Bird, a proposed documentary about Spinney's life, has received over $100,000 from nearly 2,000 backers on Kickstarter, allowing a New York based production company to begin work. Using interviews with Spinney and other Sesame Street regulars, the documentary will also feature footage from the 78-year-old's personal archive, including video of Spinney with Muppets creator Jim Henson and puppet luminary (and voice of Star Wars' Yoda) Frank Oz. "You haven't outgrown Sesame Street," said the pitch from Copper Pot Pictures on Kickstarter, which had earned a total of $124,115 when it ended last week. "At some point during I Am Big Bird, a skit, a line or a character will bring you back. I Am Big Bird won't just give you a chance to relive these moments, it will let you see them through Caroll's eyes. "And when it finally becomes clear that Caroll doesn't just operate Big Bird and Oscar, he gives him their souls, you'll realize just how much impact the faceless puppeteer has had on your life." Spinney has been playing Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird – he holds his right hand high above his head to operate the fowl's mouth and portray the height reflected in its name – since 1969. The documentary will include interviews with contemporaries and colleagues as well as retracing some of Big Bird's steps over the last 43 years – including, potentially, a trip to China, but will also draw on "thousands of snapshots and hundreds of hours of videos that capture his undying love for his wife".

www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2012/aug/21/big-bird-documentary-raises-money/print

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film project raises money to profile Sesame Street puppeteer | Television & radio | guardian.co.uk 8/22/12

Puppeteer Caroll Spinney Photograph: David Becker/Getty Images The idea for the documentary came about following a conversation between Dave LaMattina and Chad Walker from the New York-based Copper Pot Pictures. LaMattina told Walker that while he was an intern at Sesame Street he had learned something of Spinney's life and career. "When Dave told me that one man had played both Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch since 1969 and that he was 78 and still doing it, I was totally blown away," Walker told the Guardian. "I couldn't believe it." "The fact that this man has affected so many lives but is known by so few really stood out as a unique story." Spinney was born in Massachusetts in 1933. After graduating from high school he served in the air force, where he wrote and illustrated a comic strip and illustrated cartoons before becoming a puppeteer in the 1950s. He met Muppets creator Jim Henson at a puppeteering festival in 1962 and was persuaded to join the Sesame Street cast in 1969, where he has remained ever since. Spinney has received four daytime Emmy awards for his work on the show and received a lifetime achievement award in 2006. The film promises to document Spinney's life playing Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, including how he got the voice for the latter from a "cantankerous cabbie", and how if it had not been for a "last minute change of heart by Nasa" Big Bird would have gone into space. LaMattina, a Boston College graduate who spent time working in LA before founding Copper Pot Pictures with Walker and Clay Frost, said he had been "thrilled" by the response to the Kickstarter campaign, which comfortably reached its funding goal of $100,000 this month, adding that "we knew people would react to seeing his story". LaMattina said while the final cost was likely to be much higher than the amount raised through Kickstarter, the campaign had sparked interest from individuals and companies keen on further involvement with the documentary. Much of the money will be spent on production travel and associated costs, with the team keen to retrace some of Spinney and his characters' footsteps over the years. "We'd love, for example, to go to China and meet with some of the people Caroll worked with on Big Bird in China," LaMattina said, referring to the 1983 special which saw Big Bird embark on a journey to Asia after finding a scroll in New York's Chinatown. "That was such a defining experience for him, both personally and professionally, that
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film project raises money to profile Sesame Street puppeteer | Television & radio | guardian.co.uk 8/22/12

we feel like we need to retrace his steps." In addition to new footage, however, the filmmakers are just as excited about using material from Spinney's own archives. "The Spinneys have literally filmed or photographed everything they have ever done," Walker said. "Caroll has filmed everything going all the way back to the 1950s. "We truly have an embarrassment of footage from Caroll's personal life with his family and friends, which really gives you an understanding of who the man in the bird suit really is. "You literally see him grow up right before your eyes."
© 2 0 1 2 Gu a r dia n New s a n d Media Lim it ed or it s a ffilia t ed com pa n ies. A ll r ig h t s r eser v ed.

www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2012/aug/21/big-bird-documentary-raises-money/print

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Summary
After portraying Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch since Sesame Street began more than 40 years ago, puppeteer Caroll Spinney is now set to have the spotlight turned on himself thanks to a successful online fundraising campaign.

Description
I Am Big Bird, a proposed documentary about Spinney's life, has received over $100,000 from nearly 2,000 backers on Kickstarter, allowing a New York based production company to begin work.

Using interviews with Spinney and other Sesame Street regulars, the documentary will also feature footage from the 78-year-old's personal archive, including video of Spinney with Muppets creator Jim Henson and puppet luminary (and voice of Star Wars' Yoda) Frank Oz.

Tags: Big Bird, Caroll Spinney, Crowdfunding, Crowdsourcing, Dave LaMattina, Fundraising, Kickstarter, Oscar the Grouch, puppeteer, Sesame Street

Posted by Samuel Bennett

Aug 22, 2012 05:04 am GMT Viewed 598 times

Author: Adam Gabbatt Source

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