Though it’s probably true that Christopher Nolan is a normal human being with guilty pleasures and intense feelings of love and hatred for silly things, there’s something about his mystique that makes people believe that the “Inception” filmmaker is uber-serious and only enjoys the finer things. But as revealed in a new oral history of “MacGruber,” Nolan has a soft spot for a film that features Will Forte prancing around with celery in his butt. And I love him all the more because of it.
For those poor souls that have yet to experience “MacGruber,” the film is directed by Jorma Taccone and tells the story of the title character, a bumbling action hero that never seems to know which wire to cut to defuse a bomb but is convinced that he’s basically MacGyver or Sylvester Stallone. And perhaps best of all, the film is adored by none other than Oscar-nominated filmmaker Christopher Nolan.
Speaking to Vanity Fair, Taccone explained a story about meeting Nolan and talking about the latter’s love of “MacGruber” after hearing Anne Hathaway tell a story about the ‘Dark Knight’ director reciting lines from the comedy film while on set.
“I was like, ‘Holy shit. That’s incredible,’” said Taccone. “The closer to that story is that my wife [director Marielle Heller] and I were at our first DGA dinner. And she’s like, ‘Christopher Nolan is there. You’ve got to go say hi to him.’ So I went up to him and I said, ‘My name is Jorma. I directed this movie called MacGruber.’ I said, ‘We’re going to do a sequel eventually. What do you think of this: When the director card comes up it just says, “Directed by Christopher Nolan” with an asterisk, and then at the end of the movie there’s another asterisk that says who actually directed it.’ And he said, ‘Let me talk to my wife about it.’”
Sadly, a “MacGruber” sequel was never made. However, even a decade later, the film’s popularity grows, and Peacock (NBCUniversal’s new streaming service) is said to be developing a TV series based on the character, with the cast and crew of the film returning. And adding to the Nolan connection, Taccone shared another situation involving the filmmaker and “MacGruber,” this time regarding the upcoming TV series.
“I invited Christopher Nolan to the pilot read-through. And he sent the best fucking email. It’s kind of stellar. It was such an amazing way to start the read-through,” said Taccone.
According to Vanity Fair, who was shown the letter by Taccone, Nolan’s email read, “Though I can’t be there in person to watch you take the first step of your odyssey—know that my spirit soars with you, and whilst it’s perhaps unfair to add to the great sense of responsibility you must already feel, I am duty bound to tell you—the world is waiting, the world is watching.”
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To echo the sentiments of Taccone, that email is most definitely stellar and could be “the best fucking email” that you could hope for from Nolan.
A release date for the proposed “MacGruber” series has yet to be announced, but it’s clear that Peacock will have one subscriber anxiously awaiting news. That is if he’s still not working on making sure “Tenet” hits theaters in July.