Since Dr. Evil first appeared in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery in 1997, the fictional character has been the subject of more internet rumors than even Mike Myers himself. Over the years, we’ve heard whispers here and there about everything from which real-life celebrities inspired the character’s many quirks to who was supposed to have played him before Myers decided to. If you’ve done enough clicking around online or taken a look at the movie’s Wikipedia page at all recently, you may have read that Jim Carrey was being considered for the role because Myers initially didn’t want to play multiple characters. As the story goes, Carrey expressed interest, but turned it down in favor of doing Liar Liar.
But is there any truth to that? Jay Roach, who directed all three Austin Powers movies, said otherwise in an interview with Collider earlier this year. According to Roach, it was just a rumor, and Myers was always planning to play Dr. Evil. Roach said that while he loves Carrey, he’s glad that we didn’t miss out on what Myers brought to the table. “Dr. Evil is some whole other concoction that he channels, and when he’s doing that, his improv thing kicks into another level of lucidity,” Roach said. He cited the therapy scene with Carrie Fisher from the original movie as an example of Myers losing himself in the character.
Roach’s response conflicts with an earlier report from WCCB. During a “Hot in Hollywood” segment that aired in November 2020, a news anchor says that Myers did, in fact, want Carrey to play Dr. Evil, citing “a new interview” with the actor as the source. It’s also reported that he didn’t get the role because his career blew up in 1994, and a scheduling conflict prevented it from happening. No footage from any Myers interview is shown, though, and we haven’t been able to verify that the report wasn’t just repeating the same old rumors.
This could, of course, be a case of the truth being somewhere in the middle. Suppose the Myers interview mentioned in the WCCB segment does actually exist. In that case, it’s not impossible that he could’ve thought about casting Jim Carrey without sharing that with Roach at any point. It’s also possible we may never know the truth, whether Myers has addressed the rumor or ever will. Look no further than the debate over who Dr. Evil was based on: Dana Carvey says Myers stole his impression of Lorne Michaels for the character; Myers swears Donald Pleasance was the inspiration.
Until further evidence is presented, we’ll have to take Jay Roach at his word that it’s only a rumor.
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