Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey

There is something so incongruous about the voice of Elmo, a small, furry, red, loving monster coming out of the mouth of a very large black man, then after only just a moment it all makes sense. "Kevin's goodness and humour, his intelligence all come out in Elmo," says the films director Constance Marks. "I think that because he is the mind and heart behind Elmo, what you see in Elmo definitely has to be coming from Kevin. He is a magnificent person and he is very generous. Here is this remarkable man, who as a child had a dream, a pretty outrageous dream and it came true beyond his greatest expectations. So really the film is about community and support, talent and focus but most of all it's a really a story about dedication and love about a man with the odds stacked against him."

The film traces Clash's life, a kid in a rough neighbourhood, who was glued to the television whenever a puppet came on and one day decided to make his own from the lining of his fathers coat, through to creating one of the most loved characters to ever grace Sesame Street. "I have to tell you, I am too old to have watched Sesame Street growing up," confesses Constance, while trying to explain why she decided to make the film. "I've always been a big fan of Miss Piggy, I love Grover and of course Elmo. My husband, James Miller, was a camera man at Sesame and he came home one day with a greeting recorded by Elmo for our then baby daughter. I was just so shocked that somebody would take the time to do this for a stranger. My husband said that it was just Kevin Clash and that he was a wonderful man. So I said try and get me his assistant's number because I would love to talk to him about making a film and this is exactly what happened. We had a long, long lunch, he told me his life story and that was the beginning."

It is a journey that would take us around the world in his wake, be it Paris or post-Katrina New Orleans, a Muppet's work is never done. "What really was so interesting was seeing him perform for or with children who were very sick, he would make them so happy within a moment of being with them," she says of her time filming the movie. "It is a real gift he has for being with children, not only those with health issues but children who have emotional issues that are overwhelming to their parents. You watch the parents and they are brought to tears that their child suddenly becomes calm or focused, or excited and starts talking, depending on what their challenge is. There is something really magical that happens when Kevin meets with people, not just children. It was a real privilege to be up close watching that for so many years, I feel very lucky I was able to do it."

Clash's life is changed when he meets the man that built all the Muppets for Jim Henson, Kermit Love - strangely not where the name came from for the frog though, who says there is no such thing as coincidence. And by coincidence Constance herself had a similar start. "I started making films when I was a girl, just as a hobby, for the fun of it," she says. "I went off to college and didn't study film making at all, but when I finished, I realised what I wanted to do. So I applied for a federal grant and made a film down in the Appalachian Mountains, a documentary. I had a wonderful editor who trained me to be an assistant editor, so I started in the business as an assistant editor despite the fact that I had just directed a film. I work for David and Albert Maysles as an apprentice editor. They were real pioneers in the cinémavérité movement, directing films like Gray Gardens and Gimme Shelter, real classic films, and working in their studio I learnt so much."

Watching this film in a room full of fans you are struck by just how much people love The Muppets - in the screening I saw there was an audible gasp at the very mention of the Henson film The Dark Crystal. "The Muppet community are so excited by the film, they were like a little army that we had," Constance says sounding surprised. "So lovely and so excited. Now that The Muppets has come out they are saying that the greatest double feature in the world is seeing The Muppets and going behind the scenes and seeingBeing Elmo." As the new Muppet movie isn't out in Australia mid January, Elmo will fill the gap quite nicely.