Fans of the hit TV series MacGyver, which is based on the adventures of paperclip-wielding secret agent Angus MacGyver, would be disappointed to learn that its film adaptation will no longer push through. Reports are circulating that the reason it was halted was the production of Fast and the Furious 7.
MacGyver was a popular TV series that ran from 1985 to 1992, which starred Richard Dean Anderson as the agent from the United States' fictional agency, Department of External Services. His character was known to be a peace-loving agent who used to get in dire situations and able to get out of it with the use of everyday objects such as paperclips, pins, Swiss army knife, and duct tape.
After the series ended in 1992, two successful TV films were made based on the plot. However, no attempt to adapt the life of the secret agent for the big screen was made until 2012.
According to a report in IGN, horror film director James Wan was in talks with New Line Cinema to direct a MacGyver movie scheduled to come out in 2015.
It was also reported that producers Raffaella and Martha De Laurentis would work hand in hand with original series creator Lee David Zlotoff.
Wan, known for his works in "Insiduous" and "Saw," was looking for a break into making action films. He saw the project as the best opportunity to make his action film directorial debut, noted IGN.
However, when Wan was offered the project to direct Fast and the Furious 7, he chose to give up the MacGyver flick. While the car and racing film, which stars Paul Walker and Vin Diesel are already done, it seems that the chance to bring back MacGyver's adventures already sailed on.
"I think New Line, that I was going to do it with at the time, no longer has the rights to it. So yeah, I don't know where it is at this point," said the director.
Cinema Blend reported that Wan revealed his plan then for the secret agent's film adaptation was to "do a young college MacGyver who went to Boston, one of the great universities, who's really brilliant, right?"
He added, "He's a really smart guy but he's so smart he could never feel like he fit into a construct, or into a world that is an establishment. So he's always a bit of an outsider. So he's very crafty, he's very smart, all kinds of science and mathematics and engineering. To cut the long story short, the idea here is I wanted to put my 'MacGyver' story around something like a 'North by Northwest.'"
The directed is slated to return to the horror genre as his next project is to direct "The Conjuring 2."
