Will Forte arrives at the premiere of "Good Boys" in Los Angeles on Aug. 14, 2019. “MacGruber,” a parody skit on “Saturday Night Live” that became a movie, is coming back to the small screen. The NBCUniversal streaming platform Peacock said Monday that Forte will once again play the mullet-haired hero for a new half-hour series. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
By Mark Kennedy, Entertainment Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --
"MacGruber," a parody skit on "Saturday Night Live" that became a movie, is coming back to the small screen.
The NBCUniversal streaming platform Peacock said Monday that Will Forte will once again play the mullet-haired hero for a new half-hour series.
Peacock said the series will follow MacGruber after rotting in prison for a decade as he hunts down a mysterious villain from his past.
The "MacGyver" parody series will use the 2010 film adaptation as a jumping off point. That portrayed MacGruber as a soldier of fortune who is supposedly a whiz at defusing bombs. The film also starred Kristen Wiig, Ryan Phillippe and Val Kilmer.
The film "MacGruber" helped Forte transition from "Saturday Night Live." While a box-office disappointment, earning just $8.5 million, the absurdist comedy has its cult adherents.
Blake Lively poses for photographers upon arrival at the UK Gala Screening for the film 'It 'Ends With Us' on Thursday, Aug, 8, 2024 in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP, File)
Blake Lively has accused her "It Ends With Us" director and co-star Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set of the movie and a subsequent effort to "destroy" her reputation in a legal complaint.
The complaint obtained by The Associated Press, which The New York Times reported was filed Friday with the California Civil Rights Department, precedes a lawsuit. It names Baldoni, the studio behind "It Ends With Us" and Baldoni's publicists among the defendants.
In the complaint, Lively accuses Baldoni and the studio of embarking on a "multi-tiered plan" to damage her reputation following a meeting in which she and her husband Ryan Reynolds addressed "repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior" by Baldoni and a producer on the movie.
The plan, the complaint said, included a proposal to plant theories on online message boards, engineer a social media campaign and place news stories critical of Lively. The complaint also says Baldoni "abruptly pivoted away from" the movie's marketing plan and "used domestic violence 'survivor content' to protect his public image."
"These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media," attorney Bryan Freedman said in a statement. Freedman represents Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives.
Freedman pushed back against Lively's allegations of a coordinated campaign, saying the studio "proactively" hired a crisis manager "due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production." He said Lively threatened to not appear on set and not promote the film "if her demands were not met." Those demands were not specified in the statement.
