Seth MacFarlane brought his humor to the big screen this year with the entertaining live action comedy Ted. While fans of the writer/director were likely grateful for what turned out to be one of the funnier films this year, we're left to wonder if we'll ever see Family Guy on the big screen. The future Oscar host's beloved Fox animated comedy was among the subjects discussed when he dropped in at UCLA for an episode of mtvU's Stand In series.
MacFarlane's episode of Stand In is set to premiere December 10 (10:00 a.m. on mtvU and mtvU.com), but EW reported on his visit to the Los Angeles college campus, and got the scoop on the update on the potential Family Guy movie. It sounds like MacFarlane still has plans to make that happen, but timing and scheduling are an obvious factor.
“It’s just a matter of when,” MacFarlane said. “It’s hard to do that while you have the series going on at the same time; I think that’s why it took The Simpsons 20 seasons to figure out how to do it.
From what he says, it sounds like the concept for the Family Guy movie might be something that couldn't be done with a TV episode. Or that makes the most out of the feature film format, at the very least.
We do know what the Family Guy movie will be. The Simpsons movie, I thought, was hilarious, but the one criticism I would have is that it’s a story they probably could’ve done on TV. There could’ve been an episode that had that plotline,” he said. “That’s the challenge with animation. You pretty much can do any story you want, so what is the reason for the movie? We finally hit on the answer to that question, and it will be something that would be impossible to do on TV.
Of course, he wouldn't get into specifics beyond that, but it sure does leave fans with some things to think about. Would they aim for an R rating? Would there be musical numbers or Star Wars or random live action moments? Would there be swearing and time travel and funny vomit scenes? The possibilities are virtually endless, and though finding the time to do it plays an obvious factor, it sounds like MacFarlane plans to make the movie happen at some point. In the meantime, fans have more Family Guy to look forward to (the series just aired its 200th episode earlier this month), and we'll see Seth MacFarlane tuxed up next year as host of the Oscars.
MacFarlane's purpose for the campus visit and appearance on Stand In was to announce "The Oscar Experience College Search," which is a search for the next generation of Oscar hopefuls.
College students who are interested in pursuing careers in film – writing, directing, producing, acting and more – are encouraged to vie for an opportunity to appear live onstage to deliver Oscar statuettes to telecast presenters. In addition to appearing on the Oscar show, winners will be flown to Los Angeles and provided hotel accommodations.
You can find more information on that at The Academy's Facebook page.
