Austin Powers

Austin Powers
Series logo
Directed by	Jay Roach
Produced by	Mike Myers Demi Moore Jennifer Todd Suzanne Todd
Written by	Mike Myers Michael McCullers
Starring	Mike Myers Michael York Seth Green Mindy Sterling Robert Wagner Verne Troyer
Music by	George S. Clinton
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date	1997–2002
Running time	286 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$112.5 million
Box office	$876.3 million

The Austin Powers series is a series of American spy action comedy films: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002). The films were directed by Jay Roach; produced, written by and starring Mike Myers as both the title character and Dr. Evil; and distributed by New Line Cinema.

The franchise parodies numerous films and characters, including James Bond, Derek Flint, Matt Helm and Jason King, and incorporates myriad other elements of popular culture as it follows a British spy's quest to bring his nemesis down. The character represents an archetype of 1960s Swinging London, with his advocacy of free love, his use of obscure impressions and his clothing style.

The films poke fun at the outrageous plots, rampant sexual innuendo, and two-dimensional stock characters characteristically associated with 1960s spy films, as well as the cliché of the ultra-suave super spy. Contrary to the handsome, super-smooth leading men of the James Bond genre, Austin Powers is not conventionally attractive (he is especially known for his bad teeth), although female characters in the films seem to find him irresistible.

The general theme of the films is that the arch villain Dr. Evil plots to extort large sums of money from governments or international bodies but is constantly thwarted by Powers, and (to a degree) his own inexperience with life and culture in the 1990s.

In Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Austin and Dr. Evil are awakened after being cryogenically frozen for thirty years. Continuing to incorporate cultural elements of the 1960s and 1970s, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Austin Powers in Goldmember feature time travel as a plot device and deliberately overlook inconsistencies. A proposed fourth film, Austin Powers 4, has reportedly been in development since 2005, but has yet to be produced as of 2018.

Development

Myers himself has stated in interviews that the idea for Austin Powers came to him one night while driving home from ice hockey practice. Hearing the song "The Look of Love" by Burt Bacharach on his car radio, he wondered "Where have all the swingers gone?" and conceived the character who would become Austin Powers.

The first phrase he thought the character might say was "Do I make you horny?", which later did indeed become a catch phrase for the character. He has also disclosed that the character also draws on his recollections of former Radio Caroline DJ Simon Dee, who hosted the first real television chat show in the United Kingdom in 1967, which ended with his driving off in a sports car with a young blonde in the passenger seat. An important inspiration for the series is British super spy James Bond. Myers said of Bond, "I can't even tell you how huge it was in our house ... That's really why I wanted to do Austin Powers. Austin Powers is out of pure love for James Bond".^[1]

Though Myers is Canadian by birth, his parents are natives of Liverpool, England, and Myers holds dual nationality. Although the films parody the plots and characters of 1960s spy movies and the Swinging London fashion scene of the era, the humour is influenced by Myers's British heritage, particularly the Carry On films and the comedic works of Benny Hill and Peter Sellers, the latter of whom Myers is a self-confessed fan (his favorite films being the Bond spoof Casino Royale and The Party).^[2]

Austin Powers is everything I watched (on TV in the late sixties). My parents were from Liverpool, and there's no one more English than an Englishman who no longer lives there. Every molecule of British culture that came across the Atlantic was tasted and worshipped.

— Mike Myers.^[2]

Influences from Sellers' films are apparent throughout the series; the character of Austin Powers reflects the inspiration of Sellers' portrayal of the character Robert Danvers in the 1970 film There's a Girl in My Soup. Powers' dandyish appearance can also be shown to have been inspired by that of the fictional Jason King – the adventurous character from the ITV Spy fi series Department S who was featured in the eponymous spin-off series.

Other obviously apparent influences are the BBC's Adam Adamant Lives! TV series, whose protagonist was a Victorian-era spy who was frozen in 1902 and then revived in the year 1966; The Beatles films, The Monkees television series, James Bond, and the "cocktail party" skits from Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In.

Main cast and crew

Cars

Powers' "Shaguar"

The series featured two cars number plates "SWINGER" and "SWINGER2" and collectively dubbed the "Shaguars" that were portrayed by a 1961 Jaguar E-Type and a 2001 Jaguar XK8 convertible, with a Union Jack paint scheme. The Ministry of Defence creates two cars to transport Powers through time: a psychedelic rainbow painted 1999 Volkswagen "New Beetle" convertible in the second film, and a purple 1975 Cadillac Eldorado Fleetwood "pimpmobile" (number plate "SWNGR 3") in the third.

Additionally, Felicity Shagwell drives a 1965 Chevrolet Corvette C2 with an American flag paint scheme in the second film and Nigel Powers has a 2001 Mini Cooper – able to travel underwater, and which bears the number plate "GR8SHAG" – in the third.

Reception

Media

Cancelled animated series

HBO purchased the rights to produce a cartoon series based on the Austin Powers films in May 1999. Despite announcing plans for a thirteen-episode season, HBO ultimately shelved the project.^[14][15][16]

Possible fourth film

In October 2005, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Mike Myers discussed the possibility of studio sources moving forward with a fourth film. "There is hope!". "We're all circling and talking to each other. I miss doing the characters."^[17] In May 2007, in an interview with IGN, "So no more Austin Powers?" was asked, and Myers replied, "No, no, there is a fully conceived idea for a fourth and I can just say that it's from Dr. Evil's point of view. So if you balanced how much of it was Austin with Dr. Evil, it's more about Dr. Evil than Austin".^[18] Also, in the audio commentary from the DVD release of Goldmember, Myers revealed that in the fourth film, Fat Bastard would return and regain the weight that he lost in Goldmember.^[19]

In May 2007, at the Shrek the Third première, Mike Myers announced that a fourth Austin Powers film was planned, but that it would focus more on Dr. Evil rather than Austin. He also said that he'd start work on it after he started work on The Love Guru, which became a box office bomb.^[20] In February 2008, it was announced that Jay Roach would return as director. In April 2008, it was reported that Gisele Bündchen had been offered a role in the film.^[21] However, Seth Green, who played Scott Evil, state that there was any script at the moment and that Austin Powers 4 would be made if a script is written and approved.^[22] In June 2008, in an interview, when asked about another Austin Powers film, Myers stated, "I have an idea, and again it's one of those things that will emerge or it won't."^[23] In July 2008, Mike Myers stated that he had begun writing Austin Powers 4, and that the plot is "really about Dr. Evil and his son."^[24]

In March 2010, Jay Roach indicated to MTV that Myers is working on ideas for a fourth film.^[25][26] In August 2011, Mike Myers revealed he would return, and had begun writing a script for a fourth installment.^[27] In September 2013, when asked about the future of Austin Powers, Myers answered "I'm still figuring that out."^[28] In September 2015, Verne Troyer expressed his desire to return as Mini-Me if he was asked to do so.^[29]

On May 20, 2016, Roach was asked about the fourth Austin Powers film during an interview with Larry King, and he stated the ideas for the fourth film that he and Myers have are good and interesting.^[30] In August 2016, in a telephone interview, Mike Myers stated "Everything is being negotiated and worked out and all that stuff" in regards to the fourth installment of the Austin Powers film series.^[31]

In April 2017, as the twentieth anniversary approached for Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Mike Myers claimed, "I would love to do another, but you just have to see."^[32] Two days later, Roach stated that a fourth film would only occur if Myers creates a good story for it.^[33] On May 26, 2017, Troyer stated that Mini-Me will reveal that he can speak in the fourth movie.^[34] However, Troyer died on April 21, 2018, delaying production even further and precluding him from reprising his role as Mini-Me.^[35] On May 9, 2018, Myers reiterated his interest in making a fourth Austin Powers, stating that it would be fun, also hinting that some tribute to Troyer might be included.^[36]

Notes

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Austin Powers (film series).

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Austin Powers Trilogy

• Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery on IMDb
• Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me on IMDb
• Austin Powers in Goldmember on IMDb
• Austin Powers 4 on IMDb (Rumoured for many years but never gone into production.)