Trivia / Austin Powers

• Acting for Two: Mike Myers played both Austin Powers and Dr. Evil in all three films. He also played Fat Bastard in the second movie and Goldmember in the third. He also voiced the astronaut at the beginning of the second film ("Oh my gentle Jesus").
• Actor Leaves, Character Dies: Vanessa was to be featured in the second one, but due to Elizabeth Hurley being busy with other work she was revealed to have been a fembot and written off.
• Approval of God: In the second movie, Dr. Evil calls his operation to weaponize the Moon The Alan Parsons Project. Alan Parsons himself said it was "the best promotion I ever had, I think we sold a lot of records through that", and while he was saddened on not being contacted at the time, he retributed by doing a Dr. Evil remix of a song of his.
• Baby Name Trend Killer: In 1997, "Austin" was one of the top ten boy's names in America, That year, however, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery premiered, starring as its titular protagonist an Affectionate Parody of a Tuxedo and Martini super-spy who, while presented as a hero, is also presented as a sexist Kavorka Man who's stuck in the '60s and whose retrograde attitudes make him the butt of the film's jokes. The name fell off quickly after that, though it remains in the top 100 boy's names.
• Banned in China: The joke about Dr. Evil's plan to split up Prince Charles and Diana wasn't available in the film's British release for more than a decade (of course, Diana's shocking death just a few months after its release didn't help either).
• California Doubling: Lampshaded. "Isn't it amazing how much England looks in no way like southern California?" Apparently the Hollywood Sign can be seen from Carnaby Street...
• Cast the Runner-Up: Mimi Rogers was originally in talks to play Alotta Fagina, but scheduling conflicts led her to take on the smaller role of Mrs. Kensington instead.
• Colbert Bump: Alan Parsons of The Alan Parsons Project said Dr. Evil's mentioning of his band in the second movie led to an increase in record sales.
• Completely Different Title:
  • Although the word "shag" is less offensive in the U.S. than most other countries, not all translated the second movie's title into something less raunchy. The Norwegian title of the movie is Spionen som spermet meg, which is a slightly dirtier way of saying "The spy who ejaculated on me". The German title translates to Spy in the Secret Missionary Position; in Croatia, it translates as The Spy Who Groped Me; in Brazil, it's The Spy Good in Bed^note in a punny way referencing the parodied material: "O Agente Bond Cama" ; in Mexico and the rest of Spanish-speaking Latin America, it's The Seductive Spy; in Russia, it's The Spy Who Seduced Me; in conservative China, it's The Spy Who Liked Me a Lot, and Singapore went with a close-enough title, The Spy Who Shioked Me. ^note  "shiok" is a slang term meaning "nice" or "good", meaning that the title would translate the same way China's did.
  • The subtitle "... in Goldmember" gets changed to "... contre l'homme au membre d'or" for the Canadian French version of the movie, which instead of spoofing Goldfinger, translates to "the man with the golden member", or a parody of The Man with the Golden Gun.
• Creator Backlash: Carrie Ann Inaba isn't the biggest fan of her bit part as Fook Yu.
• Dawson Casting: Evan Farmer was almost thirty when portraying Young Number Two in Goldmember, who is supposed to be college-aged.
• Defictionalization: Someone actually tried putting together a shark with a freakin laser beam attached to its head.
• Deleted Role: Both Heather Graham and Will Ferrell reprised their roles as Felicity Shagwell and Mustafa in the third film, but ended up on the cutting room floor.
• Deleted Scene:
  • Hear Me the Money: During Austin Powers's final confrontation with Dr. Evil in the first film, in a deleted scene, Number 2 attempts to bribe Austin with $1 billion in a Fendi briefcase. When Austin grabs just one stack of $100 bills, he notes that the money is short of a billion, to which Number 2 mentions the Fendi briefcase being part of it. They continue to argue until Dr. Evil presses the button to eliminate Number 2. Austin could have told that the money is short of a billion by the simple fact that you can't fit ten million $100 bills in a single briefcase.
  • Jedi Mind Trick: International cuts retain two scenes excised from the American one, where Christian Slater is a guard Austin hypnotizes, and then his return as a Brick Joke, delivering Austin orange sherbet right as he's escaping the Collapsing Lair.
  • What Measure Is a Mook?: Two scenes excised in North America and present in international cuts had the deaths of two henchmen being announced to their next of kin, the one crushed by the steamroller to his wife and stepson, and the one decapitated by a seabass to the friends attending his bachelor party. Both scene even featuring some interesting casting: the wife was played by Lois Chiles as a clear Casting Gag to her being the Bond Girl of Moonraker, while the friend of the mook decapitated by a seabass who has to break the news to the rest of his friends was played by Rob Lowe, who would go on to play the younger Number Two in The Spy Who Shagged Me.
  • The Singing Mute: Goldmember was originally going to include a musical number "What's it all about, Austin?" in which Dr Evil's usually mute clone, Mini-Me, sang along with the rest of the cast. The song was cut from the final version of the film, but included as a bonus feature on the DVD.
  • Unusual Euphemism: In a deleted scene from Goldmember, Fat Bastard tells Foxy how he'd love to do a "Scottish bobsled" with her.
  • Vomit Indiscretion Shot: In a deleted scene from Goldmember, Dr. Evil, Scott, Number Two, Frau, and two sailors projectile vomit, after watching Mr. Roboto get eaten by sharks.
• Development Gag: Two jokes from the draft of The Spy Who Shagged Me were used in Goldmember.
  • Goldmember refers to other men as "toite (tight) like a tiger". In the draft of The Spy Who Shagged Me, Number Two used this term to describe the "He-Bots" created to counter Felicity.
  • Nigel jokes that he got a Viagra pill stuck in his throat, and has had a stiff neck for hours. Austin originally would have made that claim not long after losing his mojo.
• Development Hell: A fourth film entitled For Your Thighs Only was announced in 2005 but so far, nothing has come of it yet. Two cinematic failures by Myers haven't helped, and Verne Troyer's death from an alcohol poisoning in April 2018 makes this even less likely. Mike Myers is still interested in making another one, and he keeps insisting that it's on the table.
• Distanced from Current Events: A throwaway line about the end of the Prince and Princess of Wales's marriage was cut from the UK and Canadian prints after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, one week before the film's premiere.
• Enforced Method Acting: In the scene where Dr. Evil demonstrates Preparation H in Goldmember, Myers had the meteor hit his groin without protection because he wanted the reaction to be authentic. He visibly flinches before Verne Troyer lets go of the meteor.
• Fake Brit:
  • Toronto-born son of Scottish immigrants Mike Myers as the English Austin Powers and the Scottish Fat Bastard.
  • American Mimi Rogers as Mrs. Kensington.
• Fake Nationality:
  • Mustafa is portrayed in the first two movies by Californian Will Ferrell, who is not even remotely Turkish.
  • Jewish-American Mindy Sterling as the German Frau Farbissina.
• Franchise Killer: A rare example where it was this for another franchise - Daniel Craig said on the Nerdist Podcast that this series (which he had nothing but praise for) made it impossible to take the campier James Bond films like Die Another Day seriously anymore, necessitating his reboot of the series.
• Inspiration for the Work: Mike Myers got the idea for the series while driving home from ice hockey practice. Hearing "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.
• No Stunt Double: Verne Troyer had to do all his stunts as Mini-Me because there were no doubles who were of his height, though having a stunt double background helped.
• The Other Darrin: In the French dub, Emmanuel Jacomy (the usual voice actor of Pierce Brosnan, James Bond included) voiced Austin Powers in the first film, and Emmanuel Curtil took over for the two subsequent films.
• Playing Their Own Twin: Goldmember retroactively turns Myers playing Austin Powers and Dr. Evil into this.
• Production Posse: Mike Myers recruited Christopher Ward, a songwriter who Myers had previously worked with at Citytv and MuchMusic in Canada (with Myers appearing as an early version of Wayne Campbell), to be part of Ming Tea.
• Real Song Theme Tune: "Soul Bossa Nova" by Quincy Jones. Mike Myers had remembered the song from an old Canadian game show called Definition.
• Separated-at-Birth Casting: The actors cast as Young Austin, Basil, Dr Evil and Number 2 in Goldmember are note perfect in the roles, particularly Young Austin.
• Sleeper Hit: New Line expected nothing from the first film after it got the worst test screening scores in studio history. Then it grossed $50 million in theatres and became a monster on VHS.
• Throw It In!: Seth Green confirmed that since the movie had a lower budget compared to other blockbusters at the time (with director Jay Roach opting for old-fashioned cameras and stunts), and the vibe on set was closer to an independent film, meaning they had time to screw around and improvise rather than constantly trying to make their day filming.
  • Doctor Evil's "shh"ing of Scott was made up on the spot and went on to become a running gag.
  • Austin's one-liners when the guard was killed by ill-tempered mutant sea bass were the result of Mike Myers forgetting his scripted lines.
  • Mindy Sterling improvised Frau Farbissina's lines about the Lucky Charms commercials.
  • In the opening dance sequence of The Spy Who Shagged Me, one of the synchronised swimmers emerges from the water with her fluffy pink hat accidentally covering her eyes.
  • Basil's remark to the audience about ignoring the mechanics of time travel was unscripted.
  • Seth Green claims that the sequence at the end of the third film showing him dancing around Dr. Evil's lair was not scripted; he said he was fooling around between takes and his hijinks were caught on film and the director decided to include it in the movie.
  • The gag in the second film about the countdown to the rocket launch came about because Meyers and Troyer really couldn't get into the rocket by the time the countdown ended.
• Uncredited Role:
  • Tom Arnold has an uncredited role as the cowboy in the "Who does Number two work for?" scene.
  • Carrie Fisher has an uncredited role in the first film as the father/son therapist.
  • Tony Jay provides the uncredited Opening Narration in The Spy Who Shagged Me.
• Underage Casting: Seth Green was in his early twenties when he started playing Scott Evil. In the events of the first film, Scott was portrayed as being in his late twenties. ^note  The second film establishes his birthday as being around 1970, making Green ~4 years younger than the character.
• Vindicated by Cable: The first movie was only a modest hit at the box office, but actually wound up making significantly more money through rentals. The movie proved so popular on home release that the sequel grossed more in its opening weekend than the original did in its entire theatrical run and was a bonafide summer blockbuster.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Mini-Me originally had a much "smaller" role, and was planned to die at the end of the second film. Due to the character being so well-liked at test screenings, the ending was revised so that Mini-Me survives.
  • Myers originally wanted Jim Carrey to play Dr. Evil, but Carrey passed on the role due to scheduling conflicts with Liar Liar.
  • Christopher Walken was considered for Number Two.
  • Catherine Zeta-Jones was considered for Felicity Shagwell.
  • Fittingly, Sean Connery was considered for Nigel Powers. In addition, Austin's mother was to be played by Ursula Andress.
  • The Love Guru was originally planned to be a Spin-Off, continuing the Acting for Two theme with Guru Pitka being a spiritual adviser and counselor of Austin Powers.
  • At one point, soon after the second movie was released, an animated series was announced for New Line's sister network HBO, but nothing ever went to air.
  • The studio originally had plans for the third movie to be animated, and to take place in the 60s before Austin got frozen in time.
  • Verne Troyer stated that Mini-Me would finally speak in the fourth film. If a fourth film ever gets made, it will be without Troyer; he died in 2018.
  • The montage of Austin's pitiful attempts to fit into '90s culture was going to include him drinking a Zima, already predicted by many at the time to be a short-lived fad. The company understandably refused to let them have the rights to use the name this way.
  • The whole idea for Dr. Evil having to have sea bass instead of sharks came from not having enough money for real sharks. The effects guy suggested they simply make the water bubble instead.
  • They Might Be Giants' "Dr Evil" song for the second movie nearly wasn't used. The band balked at the music coordinator's idea of rewriting their own song "Dr. Worm", and instead submitted a new original song in the style of John Barry's James Bond themes; the music coordinator rejected it, but they managed to get the song to Mike Myers himself, who liked it and had it put in the film after all. This all happened too late for the song to be on the first soundtrack album, but thankfully there was a second volume that it could be included on.
  • An early draft for the second film included Dr. Evil's forces creating a trio of "He-Bots" to counter Felicity, each one armed with a unique weapon hidden under a panel in their crotch. Felicity would have defeated them through the power of her mojo, just as Austin did with the Fembots in the first movie.
  • Robin Swallows and Fat Bastard were originally intended to be lovers.
• Working Title: Mike Myers wanted the second film's subtitle to be The Wrath of Khan. For obvious reasons, the execs wouldn't let him do it. Austinpussy (which later became the title for the movie-within-a-movie in the third film) was also considered.
• You Look Familiar:
  • One actor, Neil Mullarkey, plays two completely different roles in the first and third movies. In International Man of Mystery, he plays a quartermaster clerk from the Ministry of Defence who gives Austin his penis enlarger pump, and in Goldmember, he's working for the bad guys as a physician who gives Austin his physical.
  • Charles Napier has similar roles in each of the first two films—first as Commander Gilmour in International Man of Mystery, who meets the thawed out Austin Powers; then as General Hawk in The Spy Who Shagged Me as a member of President Tim Robbins' cabinet when negotiating with Dr. Evil.
  • MADtv's Michael McDonald played the unfortunate henchman that gets run over by a steamroller in the first film, then shows up in the beginning of the second as a NATO monitoring facility worker who discovers Dr. Evil on The Jerry Springer Show.

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