45 years later, Miss Piggy’s motorcycle stunt double from The Great Muppet Caper looks back

After stealing some key scenes in 1979’s The Muppet Movie and going from a background puppet to one of the key stars of The Muppet Show, Miss Piggy was ready for a starring role in the Muppets’ second theatrical outing, The Great Muppet Caper. In the film, Kermit and Fozzie Bear play investigative reporters looking into a jewel heist, while Piggy plays the receptionist for fashion mogul Lady Holiday. When Kermit mistakes her for Lady Holiday, Piggy doesn’t correct him and continues to deceive Kermit for much of the movie.

The story gives Piggy some truly unforgettable scenes, like her elaborate synchronized swimming fantasy and a hilarious jailbreak sequence leading into a motorcycle chase. Of course, most of the credit for Piggy’s star power goes to performer Frank Oz, but to pull off the memorable motorcycle chase in The Great Muppet Caper, Piggy needed an actual stunt double. The one to take on the job was Kenyan-born actor and stunt person Kiran Shah, who, for the 45th anniversary of The Great Muppet Caper, chats with Polygon about the singular experience.

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Working with Jim Henson and Frank Oz

After The Muppet Movie was directed by James Frawley, Jim Henson decided to helm The Great Muppet Caper himself. But for Henson, directing his first theatrical film wasn’t a big enough challenge. He was also developing his next project, The Dark Crystal, which he’d co-direct with Oz. That’s where the duo met Kiran Shah, who is 4’2”, and came to him with a unique proposal.

“I was working on The Dark Crystal at the time, doing pre-production,” Shah tells Polygon. “We were rehearsing things, different characters and that stuff. There were quite a lot of characters I ended up doing in that movie. One day, Jim and Frank came to me and they went, ‘We would like you to double Miss Piggy’ and I said, ‘Yes, I will do that.’”

Shah also recalls working with Henson and Oz throughout both movies.

“Jim was a very, very calm person,” he says. “Even Frank was, both of them are really calm people. Jim and Frank were performers as well, so they knew that you can only be in the suit for a limited time before you get tired. They were very easy people to work with.”

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Becoming Miss Piggy

The scene that called for a Miss Piggy stunt double shows her driving a motorcycle in a silver bodysuit, then taking a big leap at the end of the chase sequence. While not technologically complicated, it wasn’t without some discomfort.

“It wasn’t the biggest suit. It was not custom made for me, but fortunately I could get into it and I could work with it. It was fun,” Shah says. “I also wore a big head of Miss Piggy. There weren’t any animatronics or anything in it, it was just a big head. While the stunt was happening, the eye of the head had to be cut out on one side, on the blind side of the camera, so that I could see while driving.”

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Frank Oz’s Sage Advice

Muppet performer Frank Oz transformed Piggy into a superstar. As such, when Shah took on the character, Oz did offer some advice on how to become the Muppet diva.

“Yes. There’s a Piggy walk, like a lady walk,” Shah explains. “Frank told me to walk slowly.”