Rolling Stone USA - 08.2019

August 2019 | Rolling Stone | 25

FROM LEFT: KEVIN BAKER/NETFLIX; ILLUSTRATION BY LARS LEETARU

Real-life advice from a guy

who’s seen, done, and survived

just about everything

GOT A QUESTION FOR CROZ?

Email [email protected]

CROZ

ASK

I’m a 63-year-old grandmother who

is very worried about the future of our

country in light of the current administra-

tion. How can I stay hopeful?

—Patti, via the internet

Take a handful of sleeping pills every 15 min-

utes. The country is in a lot of trouble. Our

democracy is in a lot of trouble. But I am in-

spired by human beings. Human beings can

make it better. I’m inspired by Mayor Pete

and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. I do know

my grandchildren are pissed. They feel like

they’re being handed a broken world.

Any tips for a 64-year-old learning to

play guitar? I started lessons 10 months

ago and never dreamed it would be so

hard. Any advice or avenues of learning

would be greatly appreciated!

—Debbi, via the internet

Smoke a joint and then play until your

fingers hurt, because you have to put in your

10,000 hours. There’s no other way to learn.

And 64 isn’t too old. I learned new stuff in

my sixties. You can learn. We aren’t dead.

We’re just creepy-looking.

I’m a 17-year-old, and it’s my dream to

work in the show-business industry as a

musician or film director. Should I pick a

profession that is a bit easier to get into?

I’m very lost.

—Hannah, Nowra, Australia

I would love to tell you some nice conven-

ient lies, but show business is hard and it’s

getting harder. If you are compelled to sing

or write or play, then I guess do it. It would

be good for your heart, but understand it’s

an insanely difficult thing to make a living at

now. I’ll tell you this: I do it because it’s the

most fun I know how to have. When I’m sing-

ing, it’s like having my own rocket ship. I can

go anywhere with it.

The Long Journey

of ‘The Dark Crystal’

TV

O

NCE UPON A TIME,

Jim Henson found

himself stranded in

the middle of a snowstorm.

To pass the time, the Muppet

Show creator began to dream

up an elaborate story of

mystics, monsters, and two

different races — a vulturelike

aristocracy called the Skeksis

and a kindhearted, elfin

people known as Gelflings —

battling over the fate of their

planet. By the time the storm

ended, Henson had a 25-page

movie treatment. He called it

The Dark Crystal.

When his passion project

finally hit theaters in 1982,

audiences were confused:

Why was the man who gave

the world Kermit the Frog

telling such an intense, too-

scary-for-kids tale of corrup-

tion and genocide? Henson

was heartbroken. But over

the years, the movie began to

find an audience. Fans have

been clamoring for a sequel

for decades. Thanks to Net-

flix, they’re about to get their

wish. The Dark Crystal: Age

of Resistance, a 10-episode

prequel series, revisits the

late Henson’s fantasy world.

And with characters voiced

by Taron Egerton, Andy Sam-

berg, Awkwafina, Sigourney

Weaver, and many others,

the new project has a serious

A-list pedigree.

For years, Jim Henson Co.

CEO Lisa Henson had been

trying to get a new Dark

Crystal off the ground. “I

remember going on set as a

child and seeing it develop

over the years, seeing the

puppets being built,” she

recalls. “I remember talking

to a roomful of people at

Comic Con and there being

tremendous excitement

about another Crystal story.”

Samurai Jack creator Genddy

Tartakovsky had begun

working on a sequel in

2006, only to have financing

fall through; the storyline

inspired a graphic novel, The

Power of the Dark Crystal.

Other ideas came and went.

Then French filmmaker

Louis Leterrier took a meet-

ing with Lisa Henson in 2011.

His one question: “So what

are you doing with The Dark

Crystal?” He’d obsessed over

“this weird UFO of a movie”

as a kid and asked to take a

crack at a film sequel; mean-

while, Henson was devel-

oping an animated prequel

series. When she pitched

Netflix on the toon, execs

asked, “Well, why can’t you

do it like the original, with

puppets?” The projects were

combined. Leterrier spent six

months filming a live-^ action

chase scene as a test, and

Netflix was sold.

Set long before the 1982

film’s story, Age of Resistance

follows three young Gelflings

— a royal guard, a scholarly

princess, and a member

of an agrarian clan living

underground — as they learn

that their Skeksis masters are

using the life-giving totem of

the title to gain immortality.

They need to expose the plan

in time, or else.

Like the original Dark

Crystal, the show retains the

Grimm’s Fairy Tales feel of

Henson’s storytelling com-

bined with a childlike sense

of imagination. “It was the

most political thing he ever

did, talking about abuse of

power and distrust of the rul-

ing class,” Leterrier says. “It

took years to make, but I’m

glad it’s coming out now.”

Anya

Taylor-Joy

gives a

Gelfling

her voice.

How Jim Henson’s

fan-favorite

fantasy finally got

a Netflix prequel

By DAVID FEAR