More than 25 years later, Mike Myers is breaking down the basis for one of his most quotable characters.
Although he admitted Lorne Michaels provided some inspiration, the Saturday Night Live alum revealed that the Austin Powers villain Dr. Evil was originally based on another more specific character reference.
“No, it was Donald Pleasance forever,” he told Vulture, referring to the actor’s performance as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice.
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Myers said there was “just a little tiny overlay” with the SNL creator, for whom he worked on the NBC sketch comedy show from 1989 to 1995.
“I’m Canadian. He’s Canadian. He had an educated Canadian accent, and I have a Scarborough accent,” he explained. “One time he goes, ‘Mike, do you want to come up to the Hamptons?’ I was like, ‘Am I fired?’ I went, and it was like, ‘That’s Mick’s room, or do you want Keith’s room?’ And I was like, ‘Either’s fine. Couch works! The car works!’
“So anyway, we’re there and he has this big dinner with everybody. I’d never been to the Hamptons, and here it’s all people who are captains of industry but also people who own elemental things, like, ‘That’s Bill Smith, he owns bay salt.’ And my joke was, ‘There’s the man who invented the question mark. And over there, he owns Lake Ontario. Next to him is the man who invented the pregnant pause, or so I … think.’”
Myers continued, “Meanwhile, I’m like ‘Hi! I’m from Scarborough!’ And so the first thing I said as a joke was, ‘Gee, Mister Gatsby, it’s so great of you to invite me! All these people are so crazy! I see those parties across the lake and that big green light!’ It got a big laugh, and Lorne looked around like, ‘Hmm. My latest creation.’”
Playing multiple characters, including Dr. Evil and the titular MI-6 agent, Myers starred in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002).
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