MacGruber Showrunners Tried To Get Christopher Nolan To Direct An Episode

The MacGruber showrunners have revealed that they tried to get The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan to direct an episode of the upcoming series. The SNL character will soon make the jump to Peacock with Will Forte returning as the titular hero. MacGruber is set to debut on Peacock on December 16.

The core concept of MacGruber began as a sketch on Saturday Night Live during Will Forte’s run as a cast member in the 2000s. The sketches starred Forte as MacGruber – a gadget-making action hero in the vein of MacGyver. MacGruber became such a popular sketch that he received his own spinoff movie in 2010, which amped up the insanity of the character and gave him a backstory akin to 1980s action heroes such as John Rambo. Many fans of the movie have clamored for a sequel for years, and now it is finally happening. During the events of the film, MacGruber hunted down and killed his supervillain arch nemesis Dieter Von Cunth (Val Kilmer), and the series will catch up with him over a decade later – having spent much of the time since the movie in prison for murder.

The upcoming MacGruber will bring back some familiar faces in front of the camera, such as Kristen Wiig and Ryan Phillippe. Additionally, the series will also bring back the creative team of Jorma Taccone and John Solomon behind the scenes. However, it turns out that the series also tried to bring in another creator to help out: Christopher Nolan. Speaking with Collider, Taccone explained how they tried to lure Nolan to the series, saying:

We were relentless in pursuing him, like, he sent us a super sweet note, he couldn’t come to the table read, but we invited him to the table read. I honestly have been too up his butt…I wanted to see if he could get his throat ripped out, he didn’t have any time for that. We offered him any episode that he wanted to direct [laughs]. I think he’s gotten to a point where he’s like, ‘I’m not gonna actually be a part of your world, but I do appreciate it.’

Part of this likely stemmed from Christopher Nolan’s immense prestige as a filmmaker. However, part of it also stemmed from the fact that he actually is a fan of the original MacGruber film from 2010, which took many fans by surprise when that revelation came to light. He clearly appreciates the work Taccone and the rest of the team put into the MacGruber universe, but he was not willing to sign on for the Peacock show – even though he recently did strike a massive deal with Universal, which would’ve made a jump to Peacock more likely.

Of course, there’s no telling what the future holds for the MacGruber universe, or for Christopher Nolan. Nolan has yet to make a proper studio comedy, and in the wake of Tenet’s divisive release last year, there may be an opportunity for him to take a crack at a new genre. For now, however, MacGruber will debut on Peacock on December 16.

Source: Collider