Having a bit of a shitty day? Then have I got the film for you – documentary I AM BIG BIRD: THE CAROLL SPINNEY STORY, which is as light, happy and lovable as its subject. The work of Dave LaMattina and Chad Walker, it is a beautifully made documentary about the man who has been making Sesame Street’s Big Bird walk, talk, sing and be generally goddamn adorable for some 45 years. There is a reason Big Bird is so universally liked and has been for many a year, and that is the clearly wonderful human being beneath the suit.
Having a bit of a shitty day? Then have I got the film for you – documentary I AM BIG BIRD: THE CAROLL SPINNEY STORY, which is as light, happy and lovable as its subject. The work of Dave LaMattina and Chad Walker, it is a beautifully made documentary about the man who has been making Sesame Street’s Big Bird walk, talk, sing and be generally goddamn adorable for some 45 years. There is a reason Big Bird is so universally liked and has been for many a year, and that is the clearly wonderful human being beneath the suit.
Whilst still a little boy Caroll Spinney showed an early interest in puppets, and was royally teased by the kids in school about it. His father was reportedly a serious, no nonsense bloke with a bad temper who frowned upon his son’s penchant for puppetry as well, but his mum encouraged the young Spinney's interest and even built a puppet theatre for him. Go mum, and the world is a better place for it. His love of the craft flourished, and his most famous act soon became an extension of who he is as a man.
Those that knew him say there is little difference between the bird – as in, Big Bird - and the man. Copious home movie footage shows him dancing joyfully around the house as it charts his fairy-tale romance with his second wife, Debra, and his love of life is infectious. Innumerable behind-the-scenes glimpses follow Spinney from the Sesame Street set to places like the Great Wall of China, where he is greeted like the lovable rockstar that he is.
A real eye opener for me was getting to see the complicated but low-tech human mechanics through which Spinney controls the wonderfully expressive movements of the famous giant yellow bird. Inside a costume made up of around 4,000 feathers, Spinney has no contact with the outside world and can only see indirectly through a video monitor strapped to his chest. The insane amount of things that need to be managed just to make the bird walk and talk are mind blowing, and then when you put on top of that the signature voice, and the amount of personality that is in each performance it is absolutely unbelievable. The man is a genius. The job requires an incredible amount of skill and coordination, and the fact that Spinney continues to do it into his eighties seems miraculous.
It was fascinating to hear that Spinney at first didn't want to do the job and that he found the work so difficult at first that he almost quit. Frank Oz remembers, "he didn't fit in and he knew it”, which is interesting when you consider that Spinney’s most famous creation is executed whilst hidden within a full body suit.
Variety said of the doco: “diehard Big Bird fans will delight in this treasure trove of intimate moments, but the pic’s relentless outpourings of affection might prove too saccharine for general consumption…” Do I agree? Hell no. The whole thing is an absolute joy to behold and the perfect anecdote to a grey, long winter’s day. Keep up the great work Caroll Spinney, the world is a better place with you in it.