Being Elmo: How a documentary about a puppeteer brought adults to tears

DIRECTOR Constance Marks didn’t let her infant daughter Sophia watch television very often. Sesame Street was one of the few exceptions, not least because Marks was just as taken with the character of Elmo as her daughter was.

Elmo, a three-and-a-half-year-old furry red monster with a cutesy voice and a tendency to refer to himself in the third person, is one of the most popular characters on the long-running US television show, and even though Sesame Street itself has been off-air in Britain for many years, Elmo has been the star of popular spin-off shows and films in his own right .

He is the only non-human to have testified before US Congress, voicing his support for increased funding in music education, and has recited the alphabet with Kofi Annan. And he was at the centre of a controversy surrounding Katy Perry’s cleavage (the pop singer appeared in a sketch with him that was pulled off air after her dressing-up outfit choice was deemed inappropriate for a preschool audience).

Now 13 and “a bigger fan than ever”, one of Sophia’s first words was “Elmo”, and so taken was she with the character that her father – Marks’ husband James Miller, who worked as a cameraman on Sesame Street – arranged to make a tape of himself in conversation with the Muppet as a surprise for his daughter.

“I was just overcome with gratitude for whoever made this for us,” says Marks. “And it turned out to be [Elmo’s puppeteer] Kevin Clash. I had always admired the technique with which he infused Elmo with these terrific gestures and nuances so I suddenly became curious; ‘Who is the person behind Elmo?’”

Marks persuaded her husband to set up a meeting with Clash, who is 51, and so began a six-year project to document the extraordinary career of the man who brought to life one of television’s best-loved characters.

Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey is a feature-length documentary telling the story of a working class boy from Baltimore who, from the age of ten, harboured ambitions to become a puppeteer. Neighbours would give him old clothes, and he used his mother’s sewing machine to make them into 80 different puppets, performing for the children his mother babysat.

By 1984 he was working on Sesame Street, and when another puppeteer tossed the Elmo puppet into his lap, fed up with the character, he gave him the distinctive voice, sunny demeanor and infectious giggle that made Elmo what he is today. 27 years on, Elmo eclipses everyone from Big Bird to Cookie Monster in popularity, and the cuddly Tickle Me Elmo was one of the biggest-selling toys in the world of the past 15 years.

Being Elmo has enjoyed extraordinary success at film festivals around the world, picking up numerous awards including a Special Jury Prize at Sundance. It has reduced hardened hacks to tears in screenings and became the No 1 documentary on iTunes when it was released in the US.

When we speak, Marks, who is still processing the incredible success the film is enjoying, is on a train to Edinburgh with her husband to speak at a special screening of the film, taking place at the Cameo cinema this evening. The US-based couple have family in Aberdeen, and made the trip to the UK especially to share the film with them.

A critically acclaimed documentary maker, Marks’ work to date has focused on social issues such as teen pregnancy, addiction and homelessness. Tackling the world’s cutest TV character was uncharted territory for her, and nothing could have prepared her for the hysteria that surrounds Elmo wherever he goes.

“Our PR man told us that he had walked down Main Street [of Park City, Utah, where Sundance is held] with Brad Pitt, and that it was nothing compared to the hullaballoo around Elmo,” she says with a laugh. “I know that this character is utterly amusing to adults because they line up after screenings to see Kevin. At Sundance there were rock stars, famous photographers and celebrities who just lost their cool around Elmo and wanted to have their picture taken with him.”

Marks checks Twitter every day for messages from fans of the film. They come from a “broad demographic”, she says, and many take to the social networking service to say that they were reduced to tears by Clash’s story. One woman even tweeted her love for the film while she was in labour. So why does the character of Elmo, more so than so many other much-loved Muppets, resonate the world over with children and their parents?

“I think the universal appeal of Elmo really harks back to who Kevin is,” says Marks. “Without being saccharine, this character is all about laughter and love and having fun all the time. But the soul of this character is to be found in Kevin and there’s a goodness and kindness and an incredible sense of humour in this man that comes out through this furry red monster.”

Marks had initially planned for the framework of the film to be a year in the life of Kevin Clash. However things changed as she discovered his compelling story. As a child he made one of his first puppets out of the lining of his father’s coat. His peers teased him for “playing with dolls” but after he appeared on a local television news station with his creations the teasing stopped and he was named “most likely to become a millionaire” by his classmates. The prediction came true: he is now an executive producer on Sesame Street, has picked up an Emmy for his work and yes, became a millionaire.

“He was totally natural in front of the camera and was a wonderful subject in every way, not only in front of the camera but also in terms of helping us shape the film,” says Marks. “I’ve heard nightmare stories about making films with celebrities where they don’t like how they look, or they don’t want this or that included. But he gave us free rein and interviewing him was really a joy. I think he really enjoyed talking through his life, but the reason he agreed to make the film was that he wanted us to understand the joy that puppeteers have in their work.”

With advances in computer graphics in film, Clash conveys in the film his belief that there’s still a place for puppets in children’s film and television, and that he doesn’t want the art form to be lost. One of Being Elmo’s most moving moments – and one which stands out for Marks - is when Clash and Elmo meet a terminally ill child who’s a big fan of the character. Clash is present, of course, but is never noticed by the children who met their furry hero because, he says, their imaginations are such that they just don’t register him.

Elmo loves to hug and kiss and laugh, and he’s more tactile than any computer-generated character could ever be. It was the moment, says Marks, when her subject “realised the power of this character, when it became evident to him that the show and this character were bigger than he was.”

• Being Elmo will be screened at the Cameo in Edinburgh at 6:30pm tonight followed by a Q&A session with director Constance Marks. See www.picturehouses.co.uk for details and other times.