AUGSTIN POWERS INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY

As Mike Myers returns to the big screen in Bohemian Rhapsody, Buff catches up with him to reflect on the grief that inspired the swinging super-spy who defined his career.

It’s a very odd thing growing up in Canada in an English immigrant house,” smiles Mike Myers, tracing the homegrown origins of Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery. Following its 1997 release, this spy spoof launched a franchise, infected pop culture and redefined Myers in the wake of his previous mega-hits Wayne’s World and Wayne’s World 2. However, as the film celebrates its 21st birthday, the man behind the Powers myth reveals its roots lay less in spies, espionage and the swinging ’60s, and more in a desire to pay loving tribute to his parents.

“There’s nobody more English than an Englishman who no longer lives in England, and my house was almost a little colony of Liverpool,” he tells Total Film. “Things like James Bond weren’t just great movies, they were part of my heritage, so I wanted to honour my parents with tales of World War 2, or one of the greatest film series ever created,” recalls the star. “I always had jokes about the inconsistencies of the James Bond world and the magical realism of it, so that’s what I did.”

Having written the script in just two weeks, Myers began bringing his super-spy to life. First stop: a name. “I wanted the name to be a British car and some attribute,” he recalls. “Healey was a name for a while and Morris – then it was Austin. Francis Gary Powers was the guy who got shot down in his U-2 plane over the USSR, so it became Austin Powers, sort of like ‘Powers by name, Powers by reputation’,” says Myers. “I put together a band called Ming Tea, which is the band that’s in Austin Powers, and we played a number of gigs around Los Angeles. The banter between songs was how I got the sea-legs to do Austin.”

And as for his arch-enemy… “I also knew I was going to play Dr. Evil but there wasn’t really a way to workshop that,” he continues. “I’d always loved the guy who brings you to his lair, tells you his plan and shows you all of his exotic things,” laughs Myers, switching to a decidedly more Dr. Evil-like voice. “‘Have you ever seen a unicorn, Mr. Bond? There’s only two in the world and I own one… for now.’” They’re brothers and were always designed that way, he says. “It justified things later on if I looked too much like

Dr. Evil as Austin Powers. There’s a family resemblance.”

While a lot has been written about Austin’s aesthetic inspirations – the Michael Caine glasses, Mick Jagger cravat, Beatles boots – a large part of the character’s persona comes directly from Myers himself. “With Austin, it’s admiring people that have confidence,” he admits. “I’m not a terribly confident person and the thing I love about James Bond is that confidence that I don’t naturally have. With Dr. Evil, it’s that nothing technological in my life works for me. I have the Midas touch in reverse when it comes to anything technological. Clouseau is a big influence, too, which is a similar belief in your own confidence in the face of nothing working.”

To realise Austin’s sexualised ’60s, Myers and director Jay Roach found inspiration in old print interviews and adverts. “I went to a thrift shop, bought every magazine they had from 1967 and tore out everything I thought was in the movie,” says Myers. “When I knew I wanted Jay to direct, I gave him the script and he returned it with 10 pages of typewritten notes. They just made it better, sharper and heightened. I invited him over to my house, put all the pull-outs on the floor and a style guide emerged. It was AT&T blues, Coca-Cola reds, Kodak yellows… polka dots were in that world but no tie-dye because this was Carnaby Street, not Woodstock.”

Twenty-one years and two sequels later, the Austin Powers mythos continues to resonate, with a fourth film regularly rumoured. Back in 1997, however, nothing was certain. “Audiences weren’t sure what to make of it at first,” remembers Myers. “It was people old enough to know the tongue was firmly implanted in the cheek and young people who just liked the enthusiasm and primary colours. It hung in there and then one day, it tipped. That was one of the most satisfying things,” he smiles.

“Austin Powers was a tribute to my father and it was really my way of handling grief. Both of my parents made a huge impact on me culturally – just by giving me the idea that pop culture is a subject worth looking at. I think the personal significance for me is just being able to turn complete grief into celebration,” says Myers. “That’s what was most gratifying.”

AUSTIN POWERS IS AVAILABLE ON DVD AND BLU-RAY NOW.