Austin Powers is a series of
action-
comedy films written, produced by and starring
Mike Myers as the
title character, directed by
Jay Roach and distributed by
New Line Cinema. The films mainly spoof the
James Bond,
Derek Flint,
Jason King and
Matt Helm franchises, incorporate myriad other elements of
popular culture and follows the
British spy's heroic quest to bring the villain
Dr. Evil to justice.
The films poke fun at the outrageous plots, rampant sexual
innuendo, and one-dimensional
stock characters characteristically associated with 1960s
spy films, as well as the cliché of the ultra-suave male superspy. Contrary to the handsome, super-smooth leading men of the James Bond genre, Powers is not characterized as being 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 arch-villain Dr. Evil plots to extort large sums of money from governments or international bodies but is constantly thwarted by British super-spy Austin Powers, and (to a degree) his own inexperience with life and culture in the 1990s. In the
first film, he and Dr. Evil are awakened after being cryogenically frozen for 30 years. Continuing to incorporate cultural elements of the 1960s and 1970s, the
second and
third film features time travel as a
plot device and deliberately overlook inconsistencies.
Original sources
Mike 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.
Myers has also disclosed that the character also draws on his recollections of former Radio Caroline DJ
Simon Dee who hosted the first real TV chat show in the UK in 1967 which ended with his driving off in a sports car with a young blonde in the passenger seat.
A Canadian by birth, Myers' parents are British and he holds
dual nationality. Although the films parody the plots and characters of 1960s spy movies, the humour is influenced by Myers' British heritage particularly the
Carry On films,
Benny Hill and
Peter Sellers of whom Myers is a self-confessed fan (his favourite films being the Bond spoof
Casino Royale and
The Party). Influences from Sellers' films are apparent throughout the series with the character of Austin Powers being inspired by Seller's portrayal of Roger Danvers in the 1972 film
There's a Girl in My Soup. Powers' dandyish appearance is inspired by
Jason King - the adventurer from
Department S who starred in his eponymous spin-off show. The name
Austin Powers is probably inspired by the British
Austin brand of motorcar. Other influences are
The Beatles films,
The Monkees television series and the cocktail party scene from
Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In.
The films
The series so far consists of the following films :
An early draft of the first film's script features a post-credits scene that states "SEE AUSTIN POWERS IN
YOU ONLY FLOSS ONCE", and also advertises movies such as
Middle Name: Danger (which is supposed to be set in the 1950s, and made to reflect that it was made at that time),
Four Eyes Only (a supposed 1970s film where Austin is played by
Roger Moore), and
From India With Affection (where Austin is portrayed as an Indian gentleman). None of these movies are real, of course, furthering the Bond parody theme of the series as a whole.
Austin Powers 4
During a 2005 interview on
Entertainment Weekly,
Mike Myers discussed the possibility of studio sources moving forward with a fourth
Austin Powers film. "There is hope!" says Myers of the latter. "We're all circling and talking to each other. I miss doing the characters."
In an interview with
IGN (May 16, 2007), IGN asked, "So no more
Austin Powers?" and Myers said,
"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." In mid-February it was announced that Roach will return for this film.
In May 2007, at the
Shrek the Third premiere, Mike Myers announced that a fourth
Austin Powers film is planned but that it would focus more on
Dr. Evil than
Austin himself, and will include
Will Ferrell,
Adam Sandler and
Vince Vaughn. He also said that he'd be starting work on it after he starts work on another film project,
The Love Guru, in August 2007. It was also thought that
Gisele Bündchen had been offered a role in the film.
Myers recently stated in an interview with
TV Guide Network that he plans to begin serious work on the fourth installment in the
Austin Powers series. Confirming earlier reports, Myers again stated that the upcoming film would be from the point of view of Dr. Evil, Austin Powers' twin brother.
In a June 2008 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."
In September 2009 Verne Troyer (Mini-Me) stated on UK chat show
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross that Myers had been putting pen to paper on a fourth movie.
Characters
Cars
There were two cars featured in the films, called "SWINGER" and "SWINGER2". The cars were a 1961
Jaguar E Type and a 2001
XK8 convertible. He also called these cars "Shaguars." He is also seen driving a 1999
Volkswagen Beetle convertible in the second movie. In addition, Nigel Powers' car is a 2001
Mini, which is able to travel under water and has a license plate reading "GR8SHAG". There were two cars made by the
MOD to transport Austin back in time, one of them being the Volkswagen Beetle, and the other a 1975
Cadillac Eldorado Fleetwood. Felicity Shagwell, in the second movie, drives a 1966
Chevrolet Corvette with a U.S.A. flag paintjob.
Box office reception
The first film in the series,
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery cost $16.5 million, opened on May 2, 1997, and made a modest impact, grossing US$53 million in its North American release. The film was not a major success in theatres, but became a hit and cult classic on the home video market and cable television. In June 1999, the film spawned a sequel,
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. This, however, was a huge box office hit, the third-highest grossing film of the summer (Behind only
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and
The Sixth Sense), earning US$206 million in its North American release. In its North American opening weekend it earned US$55 million (then the third biggest debut in box office history), and became the first movie sequel to outearn the original after only its first weekend. The 282% increase in total box office gross from the
original to sequel is a feat beaten by
Terminator 2: Judgment Days 434% increase and The Color of Money's massive increase of 687% over The Hustler (7.6 for The Hustler to 52.2 million for The Color of Money, but in 1986 dollars The Hustler (1961) made almost 28 million). A third film, Austin Powers in Goldmember, was released in 2002 to similar fanfare, earning US$213 million. The Austin Powers
trilogy is one of the few movie series in which every sequel has outearned the film that preceded it, at least in nominal dollars.Charts
- #df58248c414f342c81e056b40bee12d17a08bf61## Figure as of May 6, 2007
Games
Video games
Other
See also
Johnny English'' - another
James Bond parody released concurrently with the Austin Powers series
