Forget MacGyver - We Want "The Wizard" Movie

By ZACH OAT

Updated 12:15 PM EST, Tue, Jun 30, 2009

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Everyone's been all a-twitter (not a-Twitter, but probably that, too) about the possibility that there will be a feature film version of MacGyver, the TV series starring Richard Dean Anderson as a master of mechanical improv. While that sounds okay, I guess, it also sounds a little, I dunno, dull. If it were up to me, I'd totally greenlight a movie version of the 1986 TV series The Wizard.

Considered an extremely lucid fever-dream by most people who remember seeing the show, The Wizard starred the 4-foot-tall actor David Rappaport (Time Bandits, The Bride) as wealthy toymaker Simon McKay, who was also a brilliant scientist, designing equipment for the disabled and non-military technology for the U.S. government. With his government liaison Alex Jagger (Douglas Barr, Designing Women) and his old friend Tillie Russell (Fran Ryan, Forever Knight), he solved mysteries using high-tech equipment pulled out of his satchel, frequently crossing paths with his arch-nemesis, Troyan (Roy Dotrice, Buffy the Vampire Slayer). It was like a cross between MacGyver and F/X, and the serious treatment of a character of Rappaport's height made the show stand out in a sea of normal-sized action/adventure shows. So why not translate it to the big screen and set it apart from other summer blockbusters?

We're living in the age of some of the greatest little actors of our time. Did someone say Verne Troyer? If so, please leave, because by no means should he ever be given a speaking part in a movie ever again. No, we were thinking Peter Dinklage (Nip/Tuck, The Station Agent) for the role of Simon, although that's certainly aiming high. Somehow, he seems above starring in a remake of a TV show, although he was in Prince Caspian and Elf. Martin Klebba is another possibility, having co-starred in Pirates of the Caribbean and Scrubs, but so is Danny Woodburn, of Seinfeld and Watchmen fame.

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