Little Shop of Horrors (2021 film)

Little Shop of Horrors is a 2020 horror comedy musical film directed by Greg Berlanti, based on the musical comedy of the same name written by Howard Ashman with music by Alan Menken, which in turn was based on the 1960 film The Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Roger Corman. The film stars Josh Gad, Celine Dion, Danny DeVito, Jim Carrey, and Mark Hamill as the voice of Audrey II, with Destiny's Child as the three urchins and cameo appearances from Jack Black, Steve Buscemi, Bill Hader, and others.

Like other adaptations of the play, the film follows Seymour, a passive, nerdy florist shop employee who becomes a celebrity on the filthy town of Skid Row when he discovers a strange flytrap-like plant lovingly dubbed "Audrey II". Unfortunately for Seymour (and all of mankind), this plant needs human blood to grow, and when it begins to demand more blood than one man can give, poor Seymour is forced to commit murder. Meanwhile, Seymour's secret crush, Audrey, is in an abusive relationship with sadistic dentist Orin Scrivello (D.D.S.), and while Seymour's meek demeanor prevents any dominate action on his part, all it takes is a little push from the plant and Seymour serves revenge in a dish best served bloody.

Like the 1986 film adaptation, this film is faithful to the stage version, with a few changes; for examples, the song "Now (It's Just the Gas)" is removed, and the scene where Orin suffocates to death from his laughing gas is replaced with Seymour becoming so incensed over Orin insulting Audrey that he grabs a chainsaw (which he found in the tool shed behind Mr. Mushnik's florist shop) and goes straight-up Leatherface on the screaming dentist (off-screen, of course) before feeding his blood-soaked remains to Audrey II. The change was so audiences could feel less sympathy for Seymour when he actively kills the dentist, and thus satisfy them when he's eaten near the end. Much of the dialogue and song lyrics are rewritten (for example, "He knows your life of crime" from "Suppertime" to "He knows about your crime"), Seymour omits "...and so am I!" when referring to Audrey II as a monster during the climax, and a sequence is added during Patrick Martin's appearance where Seymour flashes back to the events of the film, realizing in horror that the plant had a plan to take over the world, and that he had helped it grow in power. Unlike the theatrical version of the 1986 film, the movie ends with the song "Don't Feed the Plants", as in the stage version, where Audrey II succeeds in conquering the world.

The film was produced by Warner Bros. Pictures and released in the United States on October 30, 2020, the day before Halloween. The film was shot on-location at the Bowery, known as New York's Skid Row, and the Skid Row in Los Angeles, to accurately depict the Skid Row featured in the show.

The six plant pod puppets in the film were built by Jim Henson's Creature Shop in New York, based on puppet designs for the original musical by Martin P. Robinson. Robinson was directly involved with the creation of the film's puppets, overseeing the building process and even acting as principal performer for Audrey II, leading a team of twelve puppeteers from the Jim Henson Company. To ensure that no conflict occurred between them, each puppeteer took turns operating the mouth, while the others controlled the lips, vines, and leaves. For example, Robinson was lead plant puppeteer for the song "Grow for Me", while Prell performed the mouth during "Feed Me" and Rudman lip-synched to "Suppertime". For the "Don't Feed the Plants" number, over 200 puppeteers were needed to control several versions of the plant in its biggest form, reused for several shots to illustrate the idea of a plant army taking over Earth. While not directly involved with the film's production, Dave Goelz and Steve Whitmire are credited as "puppeteer consultants".

Cast
Mark Hamill as Audrey II (voice)

Josh Gad as Seymour Krelborn

Celine Dion as Audrey

Danny DeVito as Mr. Mushnik

Jim Carrey as Dr. Orin Scrivello, D.D.S.

Beyonce Knowles-Carter as Crystal

Michelle Williams as Ronette

Kelly Rowland as Chiffon

Steve Buscemi as Patrick Martin

Jack Black as Wink Wilkinson

Bill Hader as Arthur Denton

Pam Ferris as Mrs. Luce

Adam Sandler as First Customer

Andy Samberg as Skip Snip

Kevin James as Bernstein

Ellen Greene as Murder Witness

Jet Li as Chinese Florist

Bonnie Hunt as Supermarket Clerk

Lee Wilkof as Newspaper Salesman

Al Roker as Television News Reporter

Morgan Freeman as Narrator

Audrey II Puppeteers: Martin P. Robinson, Karen Prell, Anthony Asbury, Kevin Clash, David Rudman, Bill Barretta, Matt Vogel, Eric Jacobson, Noel MacNeal, Tyler Bunch, Peter Linz, Ryan Dillon

Supervising Puppeteers: Brian Henson, Kathryn Mullen, Louise Gold, Joey Mazzarino

Additional Puppeteers: Brad Abrell, Pam Arciero, Heather Asch, Grant Baciocco, Greg Ballora, David Barclay, Jennifer Barnhart, Tau Bennett, Carol Binion, Ronald Binion, Tim Blaney, Cheryl Blaylock, Rickey Boyd, Warrick Brownlow-Pike, Lisa Buckley, Julianne Buescher, Kevin Carlson, Raymond Carr, Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, Kristin Charney, Ceili Clemens, Bruce Connelly, Frankie Cordero, Melissa Creighton, John Criswell, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Nathan Danforth, Dorien Davies, Alice Dinnean, Jamie Donmoyer, Jodi Eichelberger, Nameer El-Kadi, Artie Esposito, Darci Lynne Farmer, David Matthew Feldman, Olga Felgemacher-Marin, Mark Gale, Aymee Garcia, Rob Gardner, Cameron Garrity, James Godwin, BJ Guyer, Terri Hardin, Christopher Thomas Hayes, Andy Hayward, Rachel Herrick, Haley Jenkins, Patrick Johnson, Scott Johnson, Sean Johnson, Avery Lee Jones, James Kemp, Vicki Kenderes-Eibner, John Kennedy, Kathleen Kim, Donna Kimball, Joe Kovacs, Adam Kreutinger, Jim Kroupa, Tim Lagasse, Bruce Lanoil, Michael Latini, Jayden Libran, Spencer Lott, Paul Louis, Rick Lyon, Lara MacLean, Amanda Maddock, Greg Manion, Jim Martin, Drew Massey, Ed May, Paul McGinnis, Jess McKay, Alison Mork, James Murray, Michael Oosterom, Brett O'Quinn, Carmen Osbahr, Anney Fresh Ozar, Annie Peterle, Marc Petrosino, David Quesal, Mike Quinn, Tim Rose, Nicolette Santino, Rob Saunders, Michael Schupbach, Michelan Sisti, David Skelly, Colleen Smith, Kenny Stevenson, Andy Stone, John Tartaglia, Norman Tempia, Leif Tilden, Allan Trautman, Gabriel Velez, Russ Walko, Robin Walsh, James Wojtal, Victor Yerrid

Puppeteer Assistants: Catherine Adell, Christian Anderson, Rachel Appelbaum, Steve Axtell, Billy Barkhurst, Lawrence Basgall, Jake Bazel, Nate Begle, Patrick Bristow, Lee Bryan, Pat Brymer, Brian Carson, Brian Clark, Josh Cohen, Austin Michael Costello, Carole D'Agostino, Ben Durocher, Peggy Etra, Tom Fisher, Genevieve Flati, Galen Fott, Thom Fountain, Dan Garza, Noah Ginex, Stacey Gordon, Alex U. Griffin, Tanya Haden, Sam Koji Hale, Zach Haumesser, Patrick Holmes, Brian Jones, Liz Joyce, Jonathan Kidder, Mary Robinette Kowal, Andy Rocco Kraft, Erik Kuska, Scott Land, Tiffany Lange, Matthew Lavin, Len Levitt, Michael Lisa, Weston Chandler Long, Alexander Mantia, Boitumelo Betty Maretele, Cathy McCullough, Ted Michaels, Tracie Mick, Jason Murphy, Russell Nauman, Sarah Oh, Christine Papalexis, Ian Petrella, Tony Sabin Prince, Bill Remington, Steven Ritz-Barr, Julio Robles, Abby Roderick, Misty Rosas, Adam Rudman, Joey Rudman, Carla Rudy, Paul Rugg, Benjamin Schrader, Michael Schwabe, Joe Selph, Tomas Seidita, James Silson, James Sloane, Jeff Speetjens, Thom Stanley, David Stephens, Lisa Sturz, Ian Sweetman, Zachariah Tolchinsky, Steve Troop, Art Vega, Alex Villa, Cynthia Von Orthal, April Warren, Daniel Weissbrodt, Mark Bryan Wilson, Scott Woodard, Chase Woolner, Eric Wright, Evy Wright, Matt Yates, Bryant Young, Michelle Zamora

Crew
Directed by Greg Berlanti

Screenplay by Jordan Peele

Based on the musical of the same name by Howard Ashman, which was based on the film "The Little Shop of Horrors" directed by Roger Corman and written by Charles B. Griffith

Produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber

Executive Producers: Tim Burton, David Geffen, Tim Rice

Director of Photography: Guillermo del Toro

Edited by Gregory Plotkin

Music by Danny Elfman and Hans Zimmer

Songs from the play: music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman

Production Designer: Bo Welch

Costume Designer: Tom Broecker

Choreographer: Susan Stroman

"Audrey II" built by Jim Henson's Creature Shop, New York based on original puppet designs by Martin P. Robinson

Special Effects Supervisor: Rick Lazzarini

Stunt Coordinator: Walter Garcia

Stunts: Dan Bell, Patty Chong, Tom McComas, Michael Munoz

Puppeteer Consultants: Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire