Hollywood production company New Line Cinema is producing a new movie based on the series “MacGyver,” which ran from 1985-92 and starred Richard Dean Anderson (Gen. Jack O’Neill). From The Hollywood Reporter:
New Line is using twine, bubble gum and a pencil to throw “MacGyver” into development as a feature film.
Raffaella De Laurentiis, daughter of Dino De Laurentiis, is producing through her Raffaella Prods. along with Martha De Laurentiis and series creator Lee Zlotoff.
“MacGyver” was a science-oriented adventure series that ran from 1985-92 on ABC. Richard Dean Anderson, later of “Stargate: Atlantis” and “SG-1” fame, starred as an incredibly resourceful secret agent for the Phoenix Foundation who frequently would escape from dangerous situations with ingenious and lightning-quick engineering trickery.
No writer is attached, but the studio hopes to find a script that can acknowledge how the concept has staked a place into pop culture yet still makes for a serious and fun adventure movie.
“We think we’re a stick of chewing gum, a paper clip and an A-list writer away from a global franchise,” said New Line’s Richard Brener, who will oversee with Sam Brown and Walter Hamada.
Let’s hope this film is more faithful to the spirit of the original show than certain other remakes (Mod Squad and Starsky and Hutch come to mind)! No word on whether RDA will appear in the film. MacGyver has been re-introduced to audiences recently as part of the SNL “MacGruber” skits, which can be viewed at Hulu.com.
Im thinking they will get another actor but RDA will most likely have a nice huge cameo….or maybe he will be the new Pheonix Foundation Director