MacGruber movie is go

Hand us that chicken wire… now that pipe… Yes, the movie based on Saturday Night Live skit MacGruber, starring Will Forte, is officially about to shoot and now it has a director.

Jorma Taccone – one of SNL’s writers, is stepping up to direct the film, which, according to Production Weekly, starts shooting in New Mexico next month.

MacGruber – which sees Forte as a shaggy-haired version of ‘80s action staple MacGyver is known for its regular explosions (as the lead dithers about personal issues as a bomb counts down) and occasional guest star, including former SNL hosts such as Shia LaBeouf.

MacGyver himself, Richard Dean Anderson cropped up earlier in the year, starring in a short series of the sketch, which aired as a Pepsi ad.

Taccone is a former member of The Lonely Island comedy troupe that also spawned SNL writer/performer Andy Samberg and, while he hasn’t directed a movie before, has some experience at the helm of the team’s videos and shorts (including most of the MacGruber appearances), and their TV pilot Awesometown.

Casting hasn’t been announced yet (besides Forte, obviously), but we’d hope Kristin Wiig will show up, since she usually play’s MacGruber’s assistant.

Our big fear is that MacGruber simply doesn’t have the material to stretch to film-length: the skits are short and always follow the same format with just a few tweaked jokes. Still, with MacGyver as their target, you never know…

Is this the film to avoid the SNL sketch-to-movie curse? Looks like we’ll get to find out.

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