The Muppet Movie a Florida swamp, strumming his banjo and singing "The Rainbow Connection", when he is approached by a Hollywood talent agent named Bernie (Dom DeLuise) who encourages Kermit to pursue a career in show business. Inspired by the idea of "making millions of people happy", Kermit sets off on a cross-country trip to Los Angeles, but is soon pursued by entrepreneur Doc Hopper (Charles Durning) and his shy assistant Max (Austin Pendleton) in an attempt to convince Kermit to be the new spokesman of Hopper's struggling French-fried frog legs restaurant franchise, to Kermit's disgust. As Kermit continuously declines his offers, Hopper
The Last Movie hit in 1969. Based on the success of "Easy Rider," Universal launched a project to give five young film makers $1 million each, and give them free rein to create a movie with little to no intervention from the studio (as had been done on "Easy Rider"). Given this freedom, Hopper spent much of 1970 in Peru, bringing many of his actor and musician friends to Peru—including singer Kris Kristofferson and director Samuel Fuller—and shooting the film under the working title "Chinchero". With hours and hours of footage, Hopper holed up in his home editing studio in Taos, New Mexico,