Seth MacFarlane Unveils Family Guy Movie Plans, Talks Oscar Contest to UCLA Students

Multihyphenate reveals that a big-screen feature based on his hit Fox animated comedy is on the way, and also opens up about a new addition to this year's Oscars telecast, which he's hosting

By Josh Grossberg Nov 30, 2012 4:12 PMTags
Seth MacFarlaneFOX

Peter, Lois, Stewie, Brian and the rest of the gang are coming to a big screen near you—and soon!

Family Guy mastermind and newly minted Oscar host Seth MacFarlane broke the eagerly anticipated news Wednesday during a Q&A with a UCLA film class, where he served as a guest professor for an episode of mtvU's Stand In, which is set to premiere on Dec. 10.

"It's just a matter of when," Entertainment Weekly quotes the funnyman telling students. "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."

MacFarlane is on quite a roll these days, having just added "filmmaker" to his ever-growing resume thanks to the boffo summer box-office success of his R-rated directorial debut, Ted, starring Mark Wahlberg as a grown man still attached to his foul-mouthed teddy bear (voiced by MacFarlane himself).

MacFarlane revealed that while it took awhile, he finally stumbled on a story he thought would justify a feature for his long-running Fox 'toon.

"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," he said. "That's the challenge with animation...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."

The actor-writer-director also dished on a new feature to this year's Oscar telecast cooked up by show producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron aimed at boosting interest among young viewers—and, more specifically, young filmmakers.

MacFarlane announced The Oscar Experience College Search, a contest that will give six students interested in a film career the chance to participate in the Feb. 24 awards show.

"You enter this search, you win a trip to L.A.," he said. "And you get to go up onstage and help me hand out some Oscars."

Hopefuls need only fill out an online application via the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Facebook page and upload a 30-second video answering the question: "How will you contribute to the future of movies?"