What the Hell Happened to Mike Myers?
Mike Myers successfully made the transition from Not Ready for Prime Time Player to movie star. His characters and catch-phrases were inescapable. Myers wasn’t just a comedian, he was shaping pop culture. And then, he stopped. What the hell happened?
Myers’ first acting job was on a TV commercial when he was 10 years old. The commercial co-starred Gilda Radner, who was about to become a star on Saturday Night Live. In 1989, Myers would follow in Radner’s footsteps as a cast member of SNL.
Myers spent six seasons on Saturday Night Live developing popular characters like Wayne Campbell, Linda Richman and Dieter.
In 1992, Myers and Dana Carvey were tapped to bring the Wayne’s World sketch to the big screen. Trouble began immediately when Myers wanted to have Carvey’s character, Garth, written out of the movie.
Myers had originally developed the Wayne character as a solo character while performing with Second City. The character of Garth was added for Saturday Night Live. When it came time to take the act to the big screen, Myers wasn’t interested in sharing the spotlight with Carvey, who was arguably the bigger star at the time.
Myers has developed a reputation for being, well, a demaning control freak. He started earning that reputation with his very first movie. Reportedly, Myers once stormed off the Wayne’s World set due to a lack of margarine for his bagel.
Director, Penelope Spheeris recounted to Entertainment Weekly, ”He (Myers) was emotionally needy and got more difficult as the shoot went along. ‘You should have heard him bitching when I was trying to do that ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ scene: ‘I can’t move my neck like that! Why do we have to do this so many times? No one is going to laugh at that!”’
Eventually, the director assigned her daughter to babysit Myers and fetch his snacks.
”To this day, I have this image of her sitting on this little cooler, looking at me, like, ‘Mom, I f—ing hate you,” said Spheeris.
In spite of the trouble behind the scenes, Wayne’s World was an unqualified hit.
Myers followed up Wayne’s World with the romantic comedy, So I Married an Axe Murderer in 1993.
Other actors who had been considered for Axe Murderer included Woody Allen, Chevy Chase, Albert Brooks, and Martin Short. When Myers agreed to star, he insisted on re-writing the script to better suit his sensibilities.
This resulted in a law suit with the original screen writer, Robbie Fox which eventually resulted in Fox getting sole writing credit.
Myers also clashed with director, Thomas Schlamme. When Myers was unhappy, he locked himself in his trailer and refused to work. As a result, the film went over budget.
So I Married an Axe Murderer opened to mixed reviews and flopped at the box office. But it has accrued a cult following over the years.
Later that year, Myers and Carvey returned for a Wayne’s World sequel. But Wayne’s World 2 couldn’t duplicate the success of the original. It got mixed reviews and disappointed at the box office.
The director of the original WW, Penelope Spheeris, has said she believes Myers prevented Paramount from hiring her for the sequel.
Myers reportedly retreated from Hollywood waiting for inspiration to hit. And eventually, it did.
In 1997, Myers returned with the James Bond spoof, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.
When most people think of Austin Powers, they think of the catch phrases that dominated pop culture in the late 90′s. They assume that the first Austin Powers movie was a smash hit. But in reality, it opened at #2 at the box office and only grossed about 50 million dollars in the US.
That was enough to make International Man of Mystery a hit. But in spite of mostly positive reviews, it wasn’t the box office smash most people remember. Audiences didn’t really find the first Austin Powers until it was released on video.
”I hated that bastard for years,” said Penelope Spheeris. ”But when I saw Austin Powers, I went, ‘I forgive you, Mike. You can be moody, you can be a jerk, you can be things that others of us can’t be — because you are profoundly talented. And I forgive you.”’
In 1998, Myers made a dramatic turn in the disco drama, 54, loosely based on the 70′s nighclub, Studio 54.
Myers played Steve Rubell, one of the two co-founders of Studio 54. How historically accurate was 54? The other partner was never mentioned.
54 ran into problems when test audiences found the characters unsympathetic. With only two months before its release, Miramax demanded reshoots. Entire sub-plots including a romantic triangle were scuttled.
The final version of the movie got poor reviews and bombed at the box office.
The next year, Myers returned to Austin Powers for the sequel, The Spy Who Shagged Me. The sequel traded in co-star Elizabeth Hurley for 90′s it-girl, Heather Graham.
Whereas the first Austin Powers was a modest hit with a devoted cult following, the sequel was a box office smash. The reviews were still mostly positive, but noted that Spy was basically a retread. Audiences who saw the first film on video came out to the theaters for the sequel.
In 2000, Myers made an announcement that he was haulting production on his next movie.
The movie in question was to have been another adaptation of one of his popular SNL sketches. This time featuring the German impressionist, Dieter. Just weeks before shooting was scheduled to start, Myers announced that he could not ”cheat moviegoers who pay their hard-earned money for my work by making a movie with an unacceptable script.”
The script which was so unacceptable to Myers was written by a scribe named… Mike Myers.
Confused? Just to clarify, Myers claimed he could not in good conscience make the Sprockets film he was contractually obligated to make because the script he had written wasn’t good enough.
Instead of earning a $20 million pay day, Myers got slapped with a $30 million dollar law suit for breach of contract. Imagine Entertainment, which was founded by well-known Hollywood hot-head Ron Howard (aka OpieTaylor aka Richie Cunningham) called Myers ”egomaniacal,” ”irresponsible,” and ”selfish.”
Myers countersued for his $20 million for fraud and defamation of character. Myers claimed he had been ”emotionally traumatized” by the studio’s ”thug-like, outrageous, and reckless conduct.”
The two parties settled out of court. The terms of the agreement specified that Myers would make another film for Universal and Imagine at a later date. But by then, the public battle had cemented Myers’ reputation for being “difficult”.
In 2001, Myers voiced the title character in Dreamwork’s Animation’s Shrek.
Usually, I don’t say a lot about voice work. It rarely has a tremendous impact on an actor’s career one way or another. But Shrek is a special case.
Originally, Chris Farley was cast in the role. Unfortunately, he died before the film was completed. Dreamworks turned to Myers who insisted on a complete re-write to remove any trace of Farley’s take on the character. After Myers had completed his voice work, the animators went to work.
Well into the animation process, Myers changed his mind about his performance. He decided Shrek should speak with a Scottish accent. Dreamworks chair Jeffrey Katzenberg agreed to spend an additional $4 million dollars to reanimate sequences which were already synched with Myers’ original voice work.
As it turns out, the gamble paid off. Shrek was a huge hit with critics and audiences. I’m still not sure the accent was worth $4 million though.
In 2002, Myers starred in the third Austin Powers film, Goldmember.
By Goldmember, Myers was milking the last laughs out of the concept and it showed. Reviews were mixed. But the movie still managed to be a hit. Over a decade later, there are still rumors Myers may return for a fouth Powers movie.
In 2003, Myers took a supporting role in the Gweneth Paltrow stewardess comedy, A View From the Top.
View was originally scheduled to be released in 2001, but following in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, it was shelved. It should have stayed on the shelf because it is a truly bad movie. Myers’ role is essentially an extended cameo. He manages to be funny in spite of a lame running gag involving an eye disorder.
The reviews were very negative and the movie bombed.
Later that year, Myers starred in the big screen adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ Cat in the Hat.
Tim Allen was originally cast as the Cat. But when he had to drop out due to schedule conflicts with The Santa Clause 2, Myers stepped into the role as part of his settlement with Universal and Imagine.
In this court case, everyone lost. Cat in the Hat got terrible reviews and flopped at the box office.
In 2004, Myers returned to the Shrek franchise for Shrek 2.
Like the Austin Powers movies, the second film was a bigger hit than the first despite a substantial drop in quality.
When So I Married an Axe Murderer and Wayne’s World 2 flopped, Myers retreated from Hollywood. With the Austin Powers movies played out and everything else he touched failing, Myers retreated again. He would return for Shrek 3 in 2007, but his next live performance wouldn’t be until 2008.
For 2008′s The Love Guru, Myers followed the same formula that led to the creation of Austin Powers and Dr. Evil. Only this time, instead of launching a comedy trilogy that would dominate pop culture for years, Myers released The Love Guru.
By this point, many in Hollywood were secretly hoping Myers would fail. Their hopes would be realized. Myers’ poured his heart into The Love Guru only to see it rejected by critics and audiences alike.
Myers’ many, many enemies read the tagline about karma and laughed their asses off.
Since The Love Guru, Myers has more or less retreated from Hollywood once again. He had a cameo appearance in Inglorious Basterds which is barely worth mentioning except for the fact that Inglorious Basterds is awesome! And in 2010, Myers cashed his final (for now) Shrek paycheck with Shrek 4.
So, what the hell happened? This is an easy one. Myers pissed off pretty much everyone who ever worked with him. Some put up with his bullshit because he was a comic genius who made them rich. But even they admit the guy is “difficult”.
Then, when Myers stopped hitting home runs, his shit started to stink a lot worse.
Odds are good that Myers will eventually come back with another hit. A comeback isn’t just possible, it’s likely. But if it never happens, many in Hollywood will smile broadly that Myers reaped what he sowed.
More “What the Hell Happened?”
Kim Basinger Thora Birch Matthew Broderick Nicolas Cage Chevy Chase Kevin Costner Geena Davis Bridget Fonda Brendan Fraser Mel Gibson Cuba Gooding Jr. Heather Graham Melanie Griffith Steve Guttenberg Daryl Hannah Helen Hunt Michael Keaton Nicole Kidman Val Kilmer Jude Law Jennifer Jason Leigh Penelope Ann Miller Demi Moore Rick Moranis Eddie Murphy Mike Myers Michelle Pfeiffer Molly Ringwald Meg Ryan Winona Ryder Arnold Schwarzenegger Steven Seagal Elisabeth Shue Alicia Silverstone Christian Slater Mira Sorvino Wesley Snipes Sharon Stone Mena Suvari Uma Thurman John Travolta Kathleen Turner Robin Williams Debra Winger Sean Young Renee Zellweger
Posted on October 3, 2012, in Movies, What the Hell Happened? and tagged austin powers, entertainment, Mike Myers, movies, Saturday Night Live, shrek, Wayne's World. Bookmark the permalink. 63 Comments.
I for one, have never like MM- ever- never liked his brand of humor- so I can’t add much- good post though, as always- plus I have this flu and it’s effecting my ability to a thing
I can sympathize. I’ve been suffering with a chest infection for the last several weeks. I am still hacking like crazy, but I am starting to be able to breathe again. Get well soon!
I have to admit, I have always found Myers funny. Up until Love Guru anyway.
Your summation at the end of this piece was brilliant.
Thanks for making me laugh out loud!
Always happy to oblige.
What a great article. Been waiting for Myers. I must say, though, that without the wonderful world of Shrek, he’d be broke. The ONLY live movie of his that I liked was Ax Murderer. And Love Guru is so bad it doesn’t even qualify as a film…yes, it is that bad.
I have a personal theory. (besides Myers pissing everyone off)
There are just certain comics and script writers that were funny to mainstream audiences in the 90s that just aren’t funny anymore. Our tastes have moved on. I think good examples would be Myers and the Farrelly brothers.
One reason I haven’t done a lot of comedians is that I think they have an expiration date. Comedians usually can’t stay on top of their game for very long.
I think so, too. I was just reading about Sam Kinison. I wonder if he’d be funny today?
Also, it can be argued that part of Mike Myers’ problem as time went on is that went from being a clever guy to someone who banks on his star power assume people will “just laugh”. To put it in another way, Mike Myers is the type of guy who seemingly prefers to make himself laugh first, rather than his audience.
Another argument that I’ve heard is that Mike Myers seems to only make movies when he can think up enough jokes to try to turn into forced memes to fill up an hour and a half (and then throw a loose story around them).
You forgot one of his most memorable TV appearances—standing stunned next to Kanye West at the Karina-a-thon when he declared that George Bush hates black people. =)
I always get excited when the next installment of WTHHTx shows up in my inbox. Keep it up!
I’m glad to hear you enjoy the articles. I’ll keep ‘em coming.
The Katrina telethon was classic! Part of what made it so great is that Myers is Canadian. He just looked like a deer in headlights. A Canadian caught in awkward American politics. I never laughed so hard at a hurricane relief event.
Yep. As I read your first two paragraphs it was immediately clear WTHH to him. He’s a jerk and nobody can stand him. I remember some of these stories too now that I think back on it. How difficult he was/is and his prima donna attitudes. Gotta admit the Austin Powers flicks cracked me up and so did Waynes World. I have them all in my dvd collection. Also gotta admit they don’t hold up well over time. I have rewatched a few of them this past year and the laughs weren’t as good. AP 1 and 2 are still pretty darn funny though.
I think it’s already been said; his humor is so 90′s and we’ve moved on. Plus he’s Canadian so how seriously can we really take his plights?!? (jk to any of our Canadian brethren who might be checking in
)
Yeah, we love Canada! (Le Blog is quite popular there. Must be the faux French name.)
I’m with you. Myers has always cracked me up. Even in a stinker like View From the Top, he still gets some laughs from me. I will always have a soft spot for the first Austin Powers. And the second one is still fun if not nearly as original.
I will actually surprised if Myers doesn’t have a comeback eventually. I don’t think he’ll ever recapture his A-list status from the peak of Austin Powers-mania. But I think he’ll come back with a hit comedy eventually.
Either way, dude has some issues! And that always makes for a great read.
What is the story with the French name?
Prepare to be underwhelmed. Lebeau was one of my high school nicknames. When it came time to pick a screen name, it was available. Then when I needed a name for my blog, I started playing around with things. A lot of my early movie-related choices weren’t available. Since I hadn’t fully decided on the content of my blog, I just started kicking aroun really generic names. Since my screen name was “Lebeau” I came up with “Lebeau’s Le Blog” and liked the sound of it. It made me chuckle. And not surprisingly, it was available. So I snatched it up.
I figure it’s somewhat appropriate. Part of the genesis of the nickname was that I was the only boy in my senior French class. (“Le beau” means “the boy”.) It also comes from the character in “Hogan’s Heroes” who was French. But mostly, it was just a silly play on my name. I was also called Labes and Lebowski alot. Or pretty much anything silly that contained an L and a B. I had goofy friends in high school.
Short answer: It sounded silly.
I totally get that. My real last name is synonymous with serious drinking, which I hate. After enjoying an English character named Nathaniel Drinkwater, I chose Shortwinter as my writer/artist name.
The problem with Lebeau (especially when I was writing comic book reviews) is that it is also the name of the X-Men character, Gambit, who sucks. So, I get that a lot. Less now that I am not writing about comic books.
Why did you stop?
Combination of things. Lack of time. Lack of money. Comics are ridiculously expensive. And frankly, lack of interest. There are still books I enjoy, but they are farther and fewer between than they used to be. Comics moved in the direction of being “edgy” for the sake of it. I don’t mind dark material, but I don’t want to read about rape in every other Justice League comic. It has gotten to the point where you just expect supporting characters (usually minorities) to be killed off or dismembered in every story. But, I guess that’s what sells these days.
At the end of the day, I decided my time and entertainment dollar were better spent elsewhere. Which frees me up to spend my blogging time writing about washed up celebs instead of complaining about the latest issue of Aquaman.
The only comic I buy is Heavy Metal, since 1981. Do you know it?
BTW, I don’t write posts about military vehicles (which I love and restore regularly) because nobody cares.
I have flipped through a couple issues of Heavy Metal. Never actually bought a copy. It looks interesting. And of course I have seen the animated movie a few times.
There are people who care about comics. We’ve had a pretty good following over at read/RANT, the comics site I wrote for. But I have a lot more fun here.
as a sports fan, “Lebeau” first reminds me of Steelers/Lions Hall of Fame defensive back/defensive coordinator Dick Lebeau.
Gambit was ok by me until he became so popular and they failed to actually develop his personality while still featuring him a lot. just >yawn< after that. And what was with his costume? Either have a super hero costume and lose the trench coat, or don't have a super hero costume. Trying to split the difference was just dumb.
I am sports illiterate. But I know the name. That is it though. No idea who he is.
As for Gambit, I was just never an X-Man fan. As one of the lamer X-Men, I just never got his appeal. I assume it was coolness factor rubbing off on him because he got to mack on Rogue. You’re absolutely right about the costume. Jim Lee is a great artist, but his character design is god awful. Which makes you wonder who let him redesign the entire DC universe!
Back before I read comics, my younger brother used to compare me to Cyclops and himself to Wolverine. I used to think that was cool because the only two things he told me about Cyclops were that 1. He was the team leader and 2. He had a hot red-head girl friend. What I didn’t realize was that Cyclops was and still is a massive tool and Wolverine is awesome.
I know this may sound cruel, but I really hope a comeback is not in the cards for Myers, because, on top of the fact that he has a crappy sense of humor & is even less collaborative than George Lucas, if his idea of a ‘labor of love’ is a godawful flick like ‘Love Guru,’ then the only kind of thing he could do for an encore is a movie in which everyone communicates by farting.
I think you may have just inspired Myers next character. I wonder if he can fart in a Scottish brogue.
if he can, I want to see it!
If he isn’t working on this right now, I would be sadly disappointed. Can you imagine all the flapping kilt jokes? Farting Scottsman writes itself!
At one point on imdb.com, Myers was listed to portray the late Keith Moon, drummer for The Who, in a biopic to be produced by Who lead singer, Roger Daltrey. (Myers was already 10 years older than Moon was at the time he died.) You know Myers’ star had fallen when there were hundreds of petitions from Who fans going around against Myers playing the lead role. Now Myers name is no longer associated with the project.
In some ways, I think Myers was lucky to have gotten a career beyond SNL, where he shone (even then I thought Carvey was more talented) but the first AP movie is one of my all time favorites. So much so that I never watched 2 and 3. Why, why why do I love International Man of Mystery so much, with so much sophomoric humor in it? Because.. it’s one of those movies where everything all together in the finished product, just kind of works. The actors/script/visuals/soundtrack all just kind of blended together seamlessly into something that became part of my “Buy DVD/Watch 50 times” collection.
On this one, we agree 100%. If I had been placing bets in 1992, I would have bet against Myers having a film career. I also would have bet on Carvey having more success than he did – although that was largely due to health problems.
The first Austin Powers really is wonderful. The sequels have tarnished it a little in my mind. But if you can separate the original from the sequels, there’s a lot of originality and joy in that first movie.
You can make the argument that a large part of appeal in the first “Austin Powers” film (and what made it so great in the first place) was the simple concept of having a man completely out of the loop be revived. He in the process, has to adjust to having 30+ years of change happen in an instant by his timeline. It therefore made for not just some of the best bits, but best plot points as well. That whole charm and element was gone for the second and third films since the first film ended with him more or less “getting it”; even if he went back in time in the next two films, Austin really didn’t need to adjust to that at all.
That is it exactly. The first film was a loving look at the 60s from the point of view of the 90s. It was a great fish out of water story that couldn’t be duplicated. It had a sweetness that came from Myers’ genuine affection for the psychadellic spy flicks of the era and the music of Burt Bacharach.
The sequels just replayed the best jokes of the series over and over.
Yeah, Dana Carvey (you can argue that among the late ’80s early ’90s “SNL” cast-members, he was supposed to be the big break-out star in terms of film success) had a botched heart operation in the late ’90s that put him out of commission for a while. He tried to make a comeback w/ “Master of Disguise” but it really didn’t amount to anything because of it’s mostly negative feedback.
As an example, Dana Carvey could easily have done a variety of supporting roles. Jon Lovitz certainly did, and with a lot less range. Enjoyable, but always basically Jon Lovitz. I am a big fan of SNL alums transitioning to the big screen but it doesn’t always work out.
One key thing that you left out regarding the live-action “Cat in the Hat” film is that Dr. Seuss’s estate and his widow refused to approve any more live-action adaptations of Dr. Seuss’ work (after this and the “Grinch” movie w/ Jim Carrey) due to all of the adult/raunchy jokes that clashed with the family friendly nature of the books.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/remarks.php?trope=Horrible.Film&id=62562
The Cat in the Hat. A 90-minute live-action adaptation of material that was previously filmed, with padding, as a half-hour cartoon. Imagine the padding here. In addition, Mike Myers and the script combine to derail the character of the Cat in the Hat. The Cat in the book is a jerk, but in the book he comes off as naive, someone who doesn’t understand the consequences of his playfulness. In the film, the added off-color humor kills any hopes of naivete; in the film, he’s a creepy, insensitive mancat-child who seems intent on ruining lives.
Good for them.
COMMENTARY TRACKS OF THE DAMNED:
http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-cat-in-the-hat,28691/
Crimes:
• Turning a children’s classic into a crass forum for the mildly ribald improvisational stylings of Mike Myers
• Adding all the boner, bat-in-the-crotch, and gonorrhea jokes that the original book apparently lacked, and pointlessly sexing it up with leering shots of Kelly Preston’s cleavage and a Paris Hilton cameo
• Draining Dr. Seuss’ story of all that icky wonder, magic, and lyricism
Nostalgia Critic – The Cat in the Hat:
http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/38955-nostalgia-critic-the-cat-in-the-hat
http://blip.tv/nostalgiacritic/nostalgia-critic-the-cat-in-the-hat-6571199
One thing that I forgot to note about the Nostalgia Critic’s review of “The Cat in the Hat” is that he feels that Mike Myers at the end of the day wasn’t really that funny. Basically, after a while, people started to catch on to the repetition of Mike’s humor. And without proper support (like for instance, Dana Carvey in “Wayne’s World”), he really couldn’t keep people laughing for long.
Besides Mike’s “difficult to work with” reputation, I think that it’s now quite obvious why his star started to dwindle sometime after the third “Austin Powers” movie, people started to grow tired of his schtick. I think Mike was perhaps, at his best when he was surrounded by equally if not funnier people like when he was on “SNL” (since it was a sketch comedy TV show rather than a full length movie w/ him headlining, it was harder to worn out by him over a short period).
You can make the argument that his “Wayne’s World” co-star Dana Carvey was/is the better comedian (and therefore, should’ve deserved the better film career):
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105793/board/flat/213491402?p=1
Am I the only one that thinks that Dana Carvey was much funnier than Mike Myers in this movie? I mean, I think Mike Myers is funniest when he plays a total a character that looks nothing like himself, like Dr. Evil, Fat Bastard, Austin Powers, Linda Richman (SNL), or the father in So I Married An Axe Murderer. It seems like in the roles where he looks like himself he’s laughing at his own jokes, which is really unappealing and not funny. His comedic timing in Wayne’s World was really awkward in some scenes while Dana Carvey was spot on every time. I think it has to do with humility. Dana Carvey seems to care more about focusing on characterization while Mike Myers just wants everyone to look at him.
I always thought Carvey would be more successful than Myers. Carvey’s problem is that his skill set is great for sketch comedy but doesn’t translate as well to feature length film. Also, he had some terrible health problems. But even so, I’m not sure movie stardom was ever in his future. I was frankly surprised that Myers was ever as successful as he was in film.
Here’s another good reason why “The Cat in the Hat” was horrible: They put the script in the hands of the wrong writers. Alec Berg, Jeff Schaffer and David Mandel may be OK when it comes to raunchy, R-rated films like “Eurotrip” and “The Dictator”, but they were obviously not meant to do family films.
I have never sat down and watched it from start to finish. But from what I have seen, Alec Baldwin is the only source of entertainment. Everything else is terrible.
Apparently, after the first “Wayne’s World” film proved to be a major hit, an “SNL” producer told Mike Myers if there was anyone he wanted to work with, just let him know. Myers’ response: Federico Fellini. The producer kept waiting for him to laugh…then realized Myers was completely serious, that having one hit under his belt meant he could work with the man who made “8 1/2″.
LOL. I have not heard that one before. Hysterical. I wouldn’t believe it, but with Myers anything is possible. He wanted to write Garth out of Wayne’s World for crying out loud!
That is an excellent point about the concept in the first AP movie, Terence. The concept did make the movie and it gave the writers a vehicle for writing almost elegant satire. And of course, Myers played the role with charm and gusto. it’s also a compelling thought, as others have noted, that many comedians have a shelf life. Their brand of humor may suceed via the novelty aspect in the beginning.
Cat in the hat – double ugh.
25 A-List Hollywood Actors Who Fell the F Off:
http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/02/25-a-list-hollywood-actors-who-fell-the-f-off/mike-myers
Mike Myers
Best Known For: Wayne’s World (1992), Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), Shrek (2001)
Most Recent Project: Shrek Forever After (2010)
You can’t blame a man for getting lazy with all that green monster money. Odds are, Mike Myers was a vital part of your childhood. Between Wayne’s World, Austin Powers, and Shrek, he’s been the vehicle for a decade’s worth of funny quotes at the middle-school lunch table.
Someone should’ve warned him, though: The demands of a huge cartoon franchise can monopolize your creative output. Outside of the Shrek franchise, Myers has only had time for Razzies, with films like The Cat and the Hat and The Love Guru comprising most of his recent work.
Let’s Give These 11 Washed-Up Feature Film Actors Their Own Television Series:
http://www.pajiba.com/seriously_random_lists/lets-give-these-11-washedup-feature-film-actors-their-own-television-series-.php
Mike Myers — Myers kind of screwed his own career, selling out too hard with a series of overly broad comedies and sequels He’s a gifted comedic actor, but also kind of limited. He could be good in the right role, but given his age and his limitations, I’m not sure that role exists on network television: At best, I could see is a scene-stealing, crazy drunken uncle on a irreverent family sitcom.
The Lost Roles of Mike Myers:
http://splitsider.com/2011/06/the-lost-roles-of-mike-myers/
Outside of the Shrek films, the past decade hasn’t been to kind to Mike Myers’s career. While its now commonplace for critics and Internet commenters to dogpile on the man, let’s not let The Love Guru taint our collective opinion of Myers. He’s created a lot of beloved comedy in his time, especially with his work on Saturday Night Live, Wayne’s World, and Austin Powers. In an industry where most big name comedy actors are pumping out two or three movies a year, their faces a ubiquitous presence on the posters and cardboard cut-outs that blanket cinema lobbies year-round, it’s refreshing to see Mike Myers showing a little reluctance to flood the market with his comedy. Though it sometimes may not seem that way, Myers is someone who chooses his projects carefully, taking lengthy Kubrickian hiatuses between movies. Being so choosy about his projects has caused Mike Myers to miss out on some well-known projects over the years. Let’s take a look at some parts Myers passed up in this week’s Lost Roles.
interesting stuff Terrence. A movie about “Da Bears” gang could have been a lot of fun. As Lebeau’s main article indicates, and the writer in the link above skips over, Myers may have lost out on projects for being difficult. I remember when the Keith Moon movie was being discussed and thought it sounded intriguing.
And I do agree that he might have aced Charlie and the Chocolate factor, as capable an actor as is Johnny Depp, Myers would have brought his unique comedy persona to the role, and it could have revived his career. But alas instead there was the Cat in the Hat… woulda coulda shoulda
20 Movies That Made Us Think Differently About The Actors In Them (And Not In A Good Way):
http://styleblazer.com/73727/20-movies-that-made-us-think-differently-about-the-actors-in-them-and-not-in-a-good-way/5/
Mike Meyers killed it with his stupid-funny Austin Powers routine, managing to milk it for an entire trilogy. When it got stale, he invented The Love Guru, which was stupid but not in a funny way.
10 Formally Respected Actors Who Have Probably Gone Insane:
http://whatculture.com/film/10-formally-respected-actors-who-have-probably-gone-insane.php/6
5. Mike Myers
Austin Powers was a long time ago and Wayne’s World even longer, though he has had the success of Shrek to fall back on, though even that franchise has now more than over-stayed its welcome. His fall from grace however is more down to his horrible choice of live action roles than constantly going back to the well for another outing as the green ogre.
While the signs were beginning to show with Goldmember, even his most vocal of critics wouldn’t have been able to foresee what would follow. First up was the title role in The Cat in the Hat, which made him look like a poor man’s Jim Carrey, and as bad as that was, it’s nothing compared to the shambles that it is The Love Guru.
Myers’ comedy has always been rather divisive, but The Love Guru was flat out unfunny. The only thing he achieved with these two films was to make people wonder when exactly Mike Myers lost his damn mind? How could the guy that created two of the most popular characters of the last twenty years or so get it so wrong?
As of now, it seems that Myers’ career as a leading man in comedy is over; another Austin Powers won’t fix it and considering he co-wrote, produced and starred in The Love Guru, I doubt that anyone will allow him to create an original character again. If he really wants to do it then I would suggest that he dust off Dana Carvey and finally put out Wayne’s World 3. He may be concerned about ruining the legacy, but how much worse could it possibly get? Party on Wayne!
I like it. Wayne and Garth would be seen initially through flashbacks and then in present time, they are conservative, boring accountants and have teenagers of their own. Wayne Jr and Garth Jr find their parents music lame and form their own band. Oh, the possibilities!
If Myers writes it, I expect 90 minutes of how awesome he is, Garth being killed off during the opening credits and poo jokes aplenty.
I seem to remember in his review for “Wayne’s World 2″ the late Gene Siskel suggesting for a third movie that either Wayne or Garth get married and have to cope w/ being away from one another.
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It’s hard to follow-up a runaway hit like Wayne’s World, but Wayne’s World 2 certainly tried. While the film was far from a commercial or critical failure, the movie failed to live up to its legacy. Part of the reason was, like Blues Brothers 2000, it repeated virtually the same plot of its predecessor, albeit less well. Secondly, the movie’s theme of “not selling out” seemed highly dubious given the fact the film’s a cash grab repeat of the original. Legendary grunge rock band Nirvana was initially designed to be a major part of the film’s plot, but declined for this reason after watching a test screening.
10 Actors Who Are Nowhere Near As Great As They Used To Be:
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8. Mike Myers
There is something about Hollywood that sucks the spark out of those comedians that make it on the big screen. They explode into the stratosphere making us question how we were able to even live our boring lives before they came along. Such was the case with Mike Myers. Honing his comedic skills on Saturday Night Live, he made the jump with the bitching Wayne’s World, followed that up with the nice-guy So I Married An Axe Murderer and then everyone’s favorite Millennium costume, Austin Powers.
So what happened?
Shrek came along and Mike discovered he would never need to go into a make up trailer again. Doing voice-over work has been such a great steady gig for him that he really has no need to try and create new lovable characters. His last attempt, the Love Guru, stank so bad it even beat out The Happening for the 2008 Razzie award as Worst Film of the Year. When your comedy is considered worse than a movie about killer plants, you know you’ve hit rock bottom. Fortunately, it’s not like Mike is in financial trouble. He’s just hit his creative plateau. For now.
Five Actors You Should Never Fight for Creative Control:
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3. Mike Myers
Cliche suggests that all comedians have a moody, tyrannical monster underneath their wisecracking exteriors. One comedian who seems to fit this mold is Mike Myers, whose track record of film success is tempered by numerous stories of behind-the-scenes tantrums. Myers was apparently against including Dana Carvey’s Garth character in 1992′s Wayne’s World for fear that Carvey, a slightly bigger star, would overshadow his own turn as the title character. He also supposedly stormed off Wayne’s World’s set because there was no margarine for his bagel. Years later, halfway into the production of the first Shrek, Myers decided the ogre should speak with a Scottish brogue. This cost DreamWorks about $5 million to correct. The pinnacle of Mike Myers-related craziness, though, has to be the 2000 Dieter script debacle. Myers backed out of making a film based on his weird German SNL character, claiming heroically that he refused to cheat moviegoers with an inferior screenplay. The problem is, he co-wrote the screenplay and had complete creative control over the project. Instead of taking the time to fix it, he walked away from Dieter and was promptly sued by Universal Pictures for $3.8 million.
Mike Myers: Has Hollywood’s funniest man lost the Midas touch? Mike Myers was once hailed as Hollywood’s funniest man. As yet another of his movies is slammed by the critics, Guy Adams examines what went wrong:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/mike-myers-has-hollywoods-funniest-man-lost-the-midas-touch-887022.html
1. The Mike Myers work ethic
Myers waited six years to appear in another film after the Austin Powers trilogy (provided you ignore his voiceover work in the Shrek animations and The Cat in the Hat). In the fickle world of Hollywood, that’s simply far too long.
Today, the majority of Myers fans are over the age of 25. Many have grown up, moved on, and now represent a demographic that is tricky to tempt to cinemas in great numbers to see any film, let alone a poorly reviewed comedy. In short, The Love Guru’s creator and central figure has lost touch with the zeitgeist.
2. ‘The Love Guru’ was poorly marketed
Believe it or not, The Love Guru was actually a hilarious movie… provided you have the sense of humour of a 10-year-old. Unfortunately, very few 10-year-olds ever got to see it.
American public morality makes it hard to get away with a kids’ movie that touches on the subject of sex. But if the people at Paramount had stopped trying to sell The Love Guru as a randy Peter Sellers movie, and instead focused on the young teen market, they could have found a more willing audience.
3. Casting problems
Justin Timberlake may be a decent musician. But he’s a lousy actor, and appeared snappy and tricky in publicity interviews leading up to the film’s launch this summer.
Ben Kingsley is over-exposed, and the Jessicas Alba and Simpson are better known as rent-a-celebrities than actors. Myers, meanwhile, has never enjoyed a reputation as an easy person to work with. Type his name, together with “diva”, into Google and you’ll see why.
Although it isn’t known whether Myers insisted on being given “final cut” on The Love Guru, it’s unlikely that either his producers or the studio leaned hard enough on him either to keep the 87-minute film’s budget down, or rework some of the scenes and jokes that caused its appalling reviews.
4. The film offended minorities
Myers has a track record of upsetting noisy interest groups, and in previous films has variously lampooned Scots, fat people, midgets, and the entire homosexual community.
In The Love Guru, he sends up Eastern mysticism, which sparked heated complaints from the Hindu community, in both America and overseas. “What he could have done was have been a little less gross about some of the jokes,” Deepak Chopra told MTV News. “And some of the spiritual themes, they could have shown more of the lighter side. He was almost too serious in his deprecation. He needed more humour.”
5. Mike Myers wasn’t funny in the first place
Re-watch Wayne’s World. Then re-watch the Austin Powers trilogy. Provided you are sober, ask yourself a big question: are they really all that hilarious?
Sure, the films were original. Sure, catchprases such as “Party time!” and “Groovy, baby!” might have made you laugh as a half-stoned teenager. And those ludicrous fake teeth probably looked good at the time. But 10 years down the line, it’s difficult to argue that the Myers sense of humour has aged particularly well.
6. It fell victim to wider trends
This summer, there’s a glut of comedies on the market. Some are pretty decent, such as Adam Sandler’s You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder, and Will Ferrell’s Step Brothers. Others less so, such as Get Smart. While many have performed solidly, none has provided a box-office knockout.
“I would put Mike Myers in that category of Saturday Night Live ‘alums’ who have come from TV to movies,” says film historian Steve Vineberg. “Some have had sustained careers, others haven’t. His real gift is as a mimic, and with that brand of humour, there’s always only a certain number of times you can see that shtick without growing bored.”
7. It was a rare aberration
As you might expect from a man whose brand of comedy is defined by its quirkiness, Myers is capable of the odd mistake, and his career before The Love Guru wasn’t as untarnished as you might think: in 1993, he released the stinker So I Married an Axe Murderer.
He bounced back from that, and he may well bounce back from this. Indeed, only last week, the Hollywood rumour mill suggested that he was currently hard at work on a fourth instalment of the Austin Powers series, which will be part-homage to his late father.
The analyst Paul Dergarabedian of Media by Numbers recently told the influential film magazine Radar that it’s too early to write Myers off. “Certainly, he’s a visionary comedian, and I wouldn’t count him out. But in the future, a more accessible or mainstream character might play better to a mass audience.” Of course, only time (and Austin Powers 4) will tell.
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The Love Guru (2008) was intended to revive the live-action movie career of Mike Meyers the same way the Austin Powers franchise had years earlier. Unfortunately, it failed miserably both critically and commercially. A brief supporting role in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds was overshadowed by the breakout performances by Christoph Waltz and Michael Fassbender. Meyers will soon be attempting another career reinvention with Wayne’s World 3 and Austin Powers 4, which are currently in the works.
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The Love Guru was Mike Myers’ Austin Powers follow-up and a huge commercial disaster. The film featured Myers as an Hindu guru (um…) whose unconventional tactics are employed to restore the love-life of a well-endowed hockey player (Justin Timberlake). No, we aren’t making that up. Even worse, Myers roped Jessica Alba and bunch of other talents into the film based of the goodwill accrued by previous projects. The film tanked, was accused of xenophobia by Hindus and was torn apart by critics. The film has been called Myers’ career killer, though if he can put together another Austin Powers or Wayne’s World, he may get back on track (both are in the pipeline).
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After the combined success of the Wayne’s World, Austin Powers, and Shrek series, Mike Meyers seemed like he could do no wrong. Then came The Love Guru which ground his career to an unexpected halt. The comedy cast co-writer/producer/star Meyers as guru Maurice Pitka, a Hindu stereotype intended to help a hockey player (played Justin Timberlake) regain his confidence. Immediately after its release, The Love Guru was lambasted by critics and Hindu organizations for being both unfunny and xenophobic. Audiences apparently felt the same, causing the big budget film to bomb. Many suspect the “anything-for-a-joke” arrogance displayed by Meyers in The Love Guru has inadvertently killed his career outside the Shrek franchise.
Agreed on these latest comments. I was a big fan of Dana Carvey and loved the way he immersed himself in his characters – outrageous and hilarious. The thing is, Garth would not be funny without Wayne and vice versa.
Myers created Wayne as a solo character he used to do in shows. Garth was added when Myers brought the character to SNL. It works better as sketch comedy if Wayne has someone to play off of. But Myers was never happy about turning his solo act into a duo. And he constantly struggled against it. When it came time to make a Wayne’s World movie, he did everything he could to minimize Carvey’s character. If he had his way, I doubt Garth would have been in the movie at all.