MacFarlane's R-rated teddy bear

SO WHAT could a dope-smoking, hard-drinking, oversexed teddy bear come-to-life possibly have in common with the squeaky-clean, ever-lovable, life-lesson-dishing Kermit the Frog?

seth macfarlane

SO WHAT could a dope-smoking, hard-drinking, oversexed teddy bear come-to-life possibly have in common with the squeaky-clean, ever-lovable, life-lesson-dishing Kermit the Frog?

Quite a bit, according to its creator Seth MacFarlane, of Family Guy fame, who also provides the voice of the dissolute stuffed toy in the new comedy Ted, which he describes as "an R-rated ET.

"The Muppets were definitely a big influence, particularly in how they were included in the world around them," says MacFarlane, who over the phone from Los Angeles, sounds eerily like talking dog Brian Griffin. "From the get-go you are told in any one of the Muppet movies that nobody really cares that these things are walking around, it's not strange to anyone."

MacFarlane, also the man behind Family Guy spin-offs American Dad and The Cleveland Show, originally envisaged his idea of a lonely boy who wishes his teddy bear into life as another animated series. But when he realised the story would be better told as a single arc in his feature directing debut, it seemed natural to take the people he knew and trusted to help ease the transition, with Family Guy graduates Mila Kunis, Patrick Warburton, Patrick Stewart and Alex Borstein.

But the key to the movie was always going to be the bizarre triangle between the now-grown-up kid and the teddy bear who has come between him and his girlfriend (Kunis). Having seen Mark Wahlberg exercise his comedic chops in The Other Guys, and his dramatic skills in The Fighter, MacFarlane was convinced he had found the right guy.

"He says he initially raised an eyebrow but you would never know it. He came into the process with such a readiness to embrace this very bizarre concept. For a guy with his experience to trust a first-time director, I was extremely grateful."

MacFarlane himself insisted on delivering the crackling dialogue in real time with the actors to allow for improvisation and a sense of reality.

A self-confessed sci-fi geek (he's a diehard fan of Star Wars and Star Trek and is working on a 13-part documentary sequel to Carl Sagan's revered Cosmos series of the 1980s), MacFarlane was happy to slip on a motion capture suit to act Ted's part.

But he drew the line at Spandex, Gollum-style models (no one would take him seriously), opting for a new technology worn over his normal clothes. His movements were rendered by Melbourne special effects company Iloura.

"I have felt at times a disconnect between animated and live action actors in movies where they interact, mainly because you are working with a celebrity who has to record all the animated character's dialogue either weeks before or weeks after the production so you are kind of locked into those lines and you can't improvise," he says. "As a result you lose the realism and spontaneity you get from two human actors."

Being the creator and driving force behind a long-running cult hit such as Family Guy (10 seasons and counting) opens plenty of doors, with celebrities often queuing up to make wildly inappropriate guest appearances.

"I don't know how long Family Guy can go for," he muses. "The Simpsons has gone for a lot of years and believe it or not the rivalry between them and Family Guy is actually only perceived in the imaginations of those outside the circle.

"Matt Groening and I get along really well and I have enormous respect for him. That show has everything to do with why the rest of us get to play in the prime time animation world. We have had a few Simpsons writers who have come over to work for Family Guy in recent years and I like those guys a lot. They are a great bunch and they do a great show. They are very humble and classy about it."

SEE Ted is now showing.