It definitely was disappointing. We made a movie that we loved and we still totally believe in. The main bummer is just that a lot of people didn’t go to see it. So it’s been kind of nice that it’s out on DVD and been showing on HBO recently. There are a lot of people who didn’t get a chance to see it in the theater who are getting a chance to see it for the first time. I feel like, hopefully, that people… It’s hard not to not look at box-office numbers and judge a film’s worth based on the amount of money it takes in. It’s hard not to get sucked into that. All we can do as the makers of the film is make the best movie that we can make. And then you just hope for the best. We never have lost our love for this movie and we’re really proud of it and, hopefully, more will get a chance to see it.We were so excited when we would go to screenings, they would always do very, very well. But I don’t know why people didn’t give it a chance. It’s definitely not a movie for everybody, but I think a lot of people prejudged it for different reasons.I’ve had so much time to reflect on it, there could have been so many different reasons why people didn’t go check it out. I’m sure that’s a reason why some people didn’t go see it: Not seeing how a sketch like that could turned into a full-length movie, just assuming that it would be a series of explosions every three minutes. I wouldn’t want to see that movie and I don’t blame people for not wanting to see a movie like that. But the problem was that wasn’t the movie. The movie was completely different than the sketch. I feel like a lot of people, if they had given it a chance, would have liked it. Not everybody — it’s a crazy movie. It’s not for everyone. But the people who it is for, I think, will enjoy it a lot.
While MacGruber wasn’t a perfect movie, it bombed way harder than it deserved to. Now, a year after its release, MovieLine talked to Will Forte about what went wrong.
