Ron Howard’s Jim Henson Idea Man led all comers in the documentary categories as the nominations for the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards were announced, racking up eight altogether, three more than the next most-nominated doc.
Among its nominations are Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special, Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program for Howard, recognition for writer Mark Monroe, cinematographers Igor Martinovic and Vanja Cernjul, picture editors Sierra Neal and Paul Crowder, the film’s sound editing and sound mixing teams, as well as David Fleming’s score.
“We’re so thrilled. What an honor from the Academy,” said Imagine Documentaries President Sara Bernstein, herself nominated for producing Jim Henson Idea Man. “We’re so excited.”
The documentary explores the life and extraordinary creative output of the late Jim Henson, who created the Muppets and Fraggle Rock, directed Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, and the Oscar-nominated short Time Piece, performed Kermit the Frog, Rowlf the Dog, sang, sketched, and so much more. The film also explores the vital contributions of Jane Henson, Jim’s late wife, who was a puppeteer and co-founder of The Muppets, Inc.
“I don’t know if I’m a particularly spiritual person, but I do hope that wherever Jim, and also Jane Henson are, that they’re smiling and celebrating with us for these Emmy nominations,” Bernstein said. “Jim Henson was such an incredible creative genius and a true, true, true pioneer of the television form. It’s so thrilling and a great honor that the Television Academy recognized the film.”
Henson’s children allowed Howard access to family archives to make his documentary, which is streaming on Disney+.
“We did not produce the movie, but we’ve been really heartened to see the reaction to Ron’s incredible film,” Lisa Henson, one of Jim and Jane’s five kids, told Deadline. “It’s really his artistry as a filmmaker that he was able to, in a very creative and very insightful way, present Jim Henson as a person. A lot of people have been interested in Jim Henson, but he’s a bit of an elusive character because he’s the ultimate behind-the-scenes person. And Ron really made a very beautiful, personal film, and we feel that you could really get to know my father through seeing it.”
Henson added, “We think it’s just fantastic that the whole creative team is being honored. Not only did Ron direct it beautifully, but to see nominations for the writing and the sound and the editing — each of those people are really at the absolute top of their game in documentaries. So, it’s nice to see the whole team that Imagine assembled honored like that.”
Henson said there has been no shortage of recent suitors to make a fresh Henson documentary, one that would explore territory and access archives not available to previous filmmakers who tackled Henson’s legacy.
“We were approached by a lot of filmmakers, particularly after the Fred Rogers film [Morgan Neville’s Won’t You Be My Neighbor]. And as a family, we decided that we would just wait until the perfect match could be made, the perfect serious filmmaker who would be able to kind of be synchronized with Jim Henson’s way of looking at the world,” Lisa Henson noted. “As soon as we met Ron, we as a family felt very comfortable entrusting this film to him because what we wanted to do was not make the film, but to trust the right person with the film.”
Henson credited Howard’s team with searching for materials to supplement what the family has stored.
“All of the archives were a good resource for Imagine, but they also went well beyond what we gave them,” she said, “and they found so many things that I had never seen, that most of the family had never seen. They dug deep.”
The Emmy recognition comes as Imagine contemplates a sale. “Deadline hears that the company has gotten a number of incoming inquiries over the past eight weeks, to buy or merge,” Deadline Co-Editor-in-Chief Mike Fleming Jr. reported earlier this month. “So [Brian] Grazer and Howard have retained JP Morgan to strategize.”
Bernstein told Deadline she’s not in the “circle of conversation” about any potential sale or merger, but she did say that whatever develops, she is hopeful the documentary division of Imagine will continue to produce acclaimed projects. It has become one of the most active makers of documentaries in recent years, with films and series that include Judy Blume Forever, The Super Models, The Dynasty: New England Patriots, Frida (about artist Frida Kahlo), Julia (about chef/author Julia Child), We Feed People (Ron Howard’s film about chef and humanitarian José Andrés), Lucy and Desi, the Amy Poehler-directed film about Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and many more.
“Justin Wilkes and I launched this division for Ron [Howard] and Brian [Grazer] back in 2018. And I think we certainly had those aspirations of having a successful… prolific division,” Bernstein said. “It is really incredible to see the amount of work and films and series that we’ve been able to produce over the past six years. And we really do have this incredible production team all around here at Imagine Docs. So I would hope that that will continue.”
Deadline has been told Jim Henson Idea Man will be submitted for Oscar consideration in addition to Emmys. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May, a launching pad for several Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated documentaries, like Amy, Four Daughters, and Faces Places. Bernstein wouldn’t completely confirm any Oscar plans.
“Disney definitely supported that effort and the film was [Oscar] qualified,” she noted. “We’ll see what happens.”
Ron Howard was unavailable for comment today. We’re told he was at work on his latest project. Among his films in production is Eden, which features a remarkable cast including Vanessa Kirby, Sydney Sweeney, Jude Law, Ana De Armas, and Daniel Bruhl.
Bernstein said she wasn’t at liberty to disclose which film Howard was focusing his attention on today, but she did say cryptically, “It’s a certain film that is going to be premiering soon.”
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