How Phil Hartman Pitched a Live-Action Troy McClure Movie to the ‘Simpsons’ Writers
Troy McClure – whom you might remember from such films as The President's Neck is Missing, The Erotic Adventures of Hercules and Fuzzy Bunny's Guide to You-Know-What – was a key ingredient in The Simpsons’ classic era, up until the character prematurely retired following the tragic murder of Phil Hartman.
While Troy’s extensive filmography is, sadly, totally fake, Hartman’s character was very nearly the focus of a real feature film.
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On the commentary track for the Season Seven Simpsons episode “A Fish Called Selma,” then-co-showrunner Josh Weinstein revealed that “Phil always wanted to do a Troy McClure live-action movie,” suggesting that it could have been about the making of 20th century Fox’s The Contrabulous Fabtraption of Professor Horatio Hufnagel.
Weinstein went into more detail about the unrealized project on the most recent episode of the Four Finger Discount podcast. “We discussed it a number of times with Phil. And it didn’t get beyond talk before he was tragically murdered,” Weinstein explained, recalling that he used to frequently run into the Saturday Night Live alum at parties because he had friends who worked at NewsRadio, which Hartman starred on from 1995 until his death in ‘98.
“I know it was at one of those parties where he first said, ‘I want to do a live-action Troy McClure movie,’” Weinstein shared. “And we were like, ‘That is brilliant! That’s so good.’ Because a lot of voiceover actors may or may not, in real life, be able to play their characters – but Phil is exactly Troy McClure.”
While Hartman's idea never became a feature-length script, Weinstein still remembers some ideas for how the film might have worked. “You could see live-action clips of his past movies, but he also would be having some sort of Troy McClure (mystery) or some sort of adventure that would be the throughline of the story.”
“A number of parties went on where that’s all we would talk about is ‘We’ve got to do this Troy McClure movie,’” Weinstein added. “But then he got killed and that was that.”
Weinstein also pointed out that the Troy McClure project “could have been the first Simpsons movie,” a “brilliantly left-field idea. And I think it would have really worked… It was just talk, but it sure felt like it could have led to something.”
At least we’ll always have Troy McClure's iconic performance in the hit musical Stop this Planet of the Apes, I want to Get Off!
