Top 10 Unscripted Mike Myers Moments
#10: London or Southern California?
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“Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” (1999) London is Austin Powers’ stomping ground, but his movies are primarily shot in the States. The filmmakers work around this with a lot of groovy interior shots. When the action is taken outside, though, the shooting locations become more apparent. As Austin and Felicity drive through the English countryside, Californians might recognize the scenic San Marcos Pass on Route 154. Rather than play the audience for fools, Myers decided to address the elephant in the room. Austin breaks the fourth wall, drawing the viewers’ attention to the fact that this is really Southern California. The spontaneity of Myers’ ad-lib is reflected through Heather Graham’s reaction. You can tell Graham wasn’t prepared as she quickly asks, “what,” before Myers delivers the punch line.
#9: Eek!
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“The Cat in the Hat” (2003) Myers reportedly wasn’t the happiest camper on the set of this live-action adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ classic children’s book. Based on this scene, the set wasn’t very happy either. With the house in disarray, it appears matters can’t possibly get any messier. That is until a piece of wood falls in the background, startling the Cat. Myers wasn’t expecting this piece of the set to collapse. His surprised reaction is genuine and the filmmakers decided to use this take. Ironically, the scene sees the Cat telling Conrad and Sally that he planned out almost everything that happened throughout the day. Yet, even the Cat couldn’t foresee that part of the house crashing down behind him.
#8: Wedding Guest Remarks
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“Shrek” (2001) The original “Shrek” scored an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. As well-crafted as the script is, the actors were also given some wiggle room to contribute lines. Crashing Fiona and Farquaad’s wedding, Shrek alarms the priest and the guests. To relieve some of the tension, the ogre addresses the crowd like a standup comedian, commenting on Duloc’s clean aesthetic. The line came courtesy of Myers, sprinkling in some humor as we get to one of the film’s more dramatic and romantic moments. We would’ve liked to have seen more of Shrek warming up the crowd, but there is a wedding to object to.
#7: Just Enjoy Yourself
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“Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” (1999) Acquiring a time machine, Austin prepares to travel back to the 60s and reclaim his mojo - which may or may not have inspired the name of this channel. Before heading back, Austin tries to wrap his brain around the complexities of time travel. Anyone who saw “Tenet” and “Endgame” understands where Austin is coming from. Michael York’s Basil suggests that Austin simply kick back and not think too hard about it… before directly telling the audience to do the same. This fourth wall break was improvised with Myers also turning to the camera, agreeing with Basil. It’s a cheeky addition to a time travel film that clearly wasn’t meant to be overanalyzed.
#6: Relating to Artie
“Shrek the Third” (2007) Desperately attempting to win over Artie, Shrek lays down some stereotypical teen lingo. What ensues is a symphony of slang stitched together by outdated one-liners. And honestly, “outdated” might be the wrong word. Even in the 90s and early 2000s, how many teenagers actually used phrases like “straight trippin” and “oh no you didn’t” on a regular basis? In any case, Shrek is completely out of touch with youth culture, but it’s impressive just how many lame lines he manages to deliver in under a minute. Myers came up with this bit that epitomizes every parent trying and failing to be cool around their children. It’s also probably the funniest scene in what’s otherwise considered one of the franchise’s weaker entries.
#5: Cream of Sum Yung Guy
“Wayne’s World” (1992) In the first “Wayne’s World” movie, director Penelope Spheeris allowed her cast to go off script. Since they had a tight deadline to meet, though, she reportedly would say, “If you can do it in 26 seconds, we can keep it in the movie.” Admittedly, this seconds-long ad-libbed moment isn't the most politically correct line, but it's still hard to forget all this time later. When Rob Lowe’s Benjamin recommends ordering Chinese food, Wayne asks for a suggestive-sounding dish that you won’t find on any P.F. Chang’s menu. Myers improvised the line, which is simultaneously immature and clever, much like Wayne Campbell himself. The rest of the cast manages to stay in character as well with Tia Carrere nudging Myers and Dana Carvey doing a happy dance.
#4: Inflatable Globe
“Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” (1999) Myers and Lowe reunited for the second “Austin Powers” movie, resulting in another classic unscripted scene. In Lowe’s autobiography, he revealed an idea that came to him while shooting at Dr. Evil’s volcano lair. Lowe suggested that Young Number 2 should stand up to Dr. Evil, who responds by bouncing an inflatable globe off his head and taunting him like Robert Duvall in “The Great Santini.” Myers thought it was a great concept and they instantly shot the scene, making up the dialogue as they went along. Dr. Evil gets Number 2 to cry, but you can tell that Lowe is really cracking up behind his fake tears. Lowe also mentioned that Myers improvised Dr. Evil’s new lyrics while rapping “Just the Two of Us.”
#3: Smacked Bottom
“Shrek” (2001) As Shrek grows increasingly frustrated with Donkey, he informs him that a smacked bottom may be in his future. Mirroring reality, Myers ad-libbed the line after getting frustrated with one of the film’s directors. It’s unclear if Myers was addressing Andrew Adamson or Vicky Jenson, but the remark tied in perfectly with Shrek and Donkey’s dynamic. It’s not surprising that the line came from Myers seeing how he also said it in the music video for Madonna’s “Beautiful Stranger.” Of course, “smacked bottom” took on a very different meaning there. Just a year after “Shrek,” the line would resurface in “Goldmember,” bringing things full circle in the Myers-verse.
#2: Car Hood
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“Wayne’s World” (1992) Remember when we said “Wayne’s World” had a tight deadline? Well, immediately after filming wrapped, Penelope Spheeris needed to rush Myers and Carvey to the airport so they could do “SNL.” The final scene shot involves Wayne and Garth lying on the Mirthmobile’s hood, waiting for a plane to fly over. With the clock ticking on their 32-day schedule, Spheeris let the cameras roll with the two mostly improvising. This explains the randomness of Garth’s question concerning Bugs Bunny. It’s been said that Myers’ subsequent laugh was regarding something else from the scene, but it was edited in post-production. In any case, Spheeris said, “they were just laughing so hard then because they were just relieved that we had accomplished what we had to do.”
#1: Shhh
“Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery” (1997) Myers has claimed that somewhere between 30 and 40 percent of the first “Austin Powers” was improvised. While he didn’t provide a specific breakdown of everything ad-libbed, we can confirm at least one iconic scene was unscripted. As Dr. Evil makes a classic villain mistake, Seth Green’s Scott tries to knock some sense into his dad. Dr. Evil responds with several variations on “shhh,” all of which was improvised between Myers and Green. According to director Jay Roach, having to shoot both sides of the scene ended up costing them about half a day, but it was just too funny not to do. So funny, in fact, that a similar scene would make its way into the next film. And again, it was reportedly improvised.
