MacGruber is a classic parody of MacGyver brought to life by actor and comedian Will Forte on Saturday Night Live that eventually got its own spinoff movie and now an upcoming TV series. Christopher Nolan is possibly Hollywood’s biggest filmmaker known for making ultra-serious and complicated blockbusters. Jorma Taccone is the director of the MacGruber movie, who learned from Anne Hatheway that Nolan would recite lines verbatim from MacGruber on the sets of The Dark Knight Rises. In a recent interview, Taccone revealed his shock at finding out this piece of news, and his subsequent meeting with Nolan.
“I was like, ‘Holy sh*t. That’s incredible.’ 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.'”
Knowing one of the most successful filmmakers of all time is a fan of your movie would be enough for most directors without feeling the need to prank the audience with the connection. But Taccone is not most directors, but rather in his own way is comedy royalty.
Jorma Taccone, Akiva Schaffer, and Andy Samberg were the trifecta of the Lonely Island comedy group that churned out cult hit songs with Justin Timberlake like Dick in a Box and Motherlover, introduced SNL to the digital era with their digital shorts, and have released a number of cult hit comedies like Hot Rod, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, and of course, MacGruber.
So it makes sense that Taccone’s first impulse would be to prank the audience with the implication that Nolan had directed the MacGruber sequel. The sequel movie ultimately never got made, but MacGruber is getting his second innings in the form of an upcoming show for which Nolan was sent an invitation to attend the pilot episode’s read-through. Although the filmmaker was unable to attend, he sent an email expressing his support and anticipation for the project.
“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.”
So while the world is waiting with bated breath for the release of Nolan’s latest feature Tenet, Nolan is waiting with equally bated breath for the release of the MacGruber TV show. And we’re just waiting for Nolan’s inevitable cameo in an episode of the show. Vanity Fair.