Moving From Physics to Puppets

A science background helped Brian Henson create his first scene ever in "The Great Muppet Caper."

Question:
What did you aspire to be when you were young?

Brian Henson: When I was in high school... I was always an
artist, I always
was doing film, filmmaking things and animation things and sculpture.  I always very much enjoyed arts and it
was so central in my family... my mother was also an art teacher, as
well as
founding the Henson Company with my dad... there was a lot of art going
on in our
household.

But
curriculum-wise,
I was drawn to the sciences and specifically to physics, and I
really enjoyed it and I think for a little while there, I was really
thinking
my schooling would be in physics, that that was something I loved, and
that,
probably though, by the time I was 17, I already knew that I was
probably going
to go into film.  At that point, I
thought probably special effects, something like that, and indeed, the
early
days when I was working with my dad, after I left school, I only went to
less
than one year of college, and then I was transferring, and then I
delayed my
transfer, and I did a movie, and then another movie, and then I never
finished
college.

But
initially
when I was working with my dad, it was in special effects puppets with
radio
control and motors and puppet effects. 
The first big thing that I did with my dad was the bicycle
sequence in "The
Great Muppet Caper," where Kermit and Piggy are riding bicycles in
Battersea
Park in London and that was a complex marionetting and cranes driving
through
the park, it was a complicated scene, and I did that with my dad.  And so I was already sort of mixing my
science physics enthusiasm with entertainment and directing and
puppetry.

But,
yeah,
probably the time I was 17, certainly by the time I was 19, I knew that
show
business was where I was going to end up, and I had my sights on being a
director.Recorded on April 8, 2010

Question:
What did you aspire to be when you were young?

Brian Henson: When I was in high school... I was always an
artist, I always
was doing film, filmmaking things and animation things and sculpture.  I always very much enjoyed arts and it
was so central in my family... my mother was also an art teacher, as
well as
founding the Henson Company with my dad... there was a lot of art going
on in our
household.

But
curriculum-wise,
I was drawn to the sciences and specifically to physics, and I
really enjoyed it and I think for a little while there, I was really
thinking
my schooling would be in physics, that that was something I loved, and
that,
probably though, by the time I was 17, I already knew that I was
probably going
to go into film.  At that point, I
thought probably special effects, something like that, and indeed, the
early
days when I was working with my dad, after I left school, I only went to
less
than one year of college, and then I was transferring, and then I
delayed my
transfer, and I did a movie, and then another movie, and then I never
finished
college.

But
initially
when I was working with my dad, it was in special effects puppets with
radio
control and motors and puppet effects. 
The first big thing that I did with my dad was the bicycle
sequence in "The
Great Muppet Caper," where Kermit and Piggy are riding bicycles in
Battersea
Park in London and that was a complex marionetting and cranes driving
through
the park, it was a complicated scene, and I did that with my dad.  And so I was already sort of mixing my
science physics enthusiasm with entertainment and directing and
puppetry.

But,
yeah,
probably the time I was 17, certainly by the time I was 19, I knew that
show
business was where I was going to end up, and I had my sights on being a
director.Recorded on April 8, 2010