From Saturday Night Live sketch to Pepsi commercials to cult classic film to now an original series, one thing remains true about MacGruber — he just can’t be stopped. The fan-favorite character played by Will Forte, created from a grab-bag of ’80s action movies cliches, continues his journey of throat-ripping and dick-punching on Peacock in eight episodes that, according to director Jorma Taccone, held nothing back.
In fact, in a Zoom interview with Consequence, Taccone said that there was nothing he, Forte, and co-creator John Solomon felt was too ridiculous to include in the series. “There was nothing that we were told no about, and there was nothing that the three of us looked at each other like, ‘We shouldn’t do this.’”
As Taccone explained, the only time they were ever told “no” about a content-related decision was when they were making the original MacGruber film, and Val Kilmer, who played the villainous Dieter Von Cunth, refused to do a very specific bit.
“We had initially wanted to cut Val Kilmer’s penis off and put it in his [mouth], and we were very adamant about it, to the point where we were like, ‘Maybe we should fire him,’” Taccone said. “Afterward we were like, ‘What were we thinking? This guy’s a genius.’”
While Kilmer did not return for the series, the cast is still stacked, including returning MacGruber favorites Kristen Wiig and Ryan Phillippe, as well as some new up-and-comers including Billy Zane, Sam Elliott, and Laurence Fishburne. In the below interview, transcribed and edited for clarity, Taccone and Solomon talk about the original inspiration for the character, why a TV show was the next step for the character, and who in the cast, if anyone, was prone to breaking into laughter during a scene.
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