I FIRST became aware of Mike Myers through Saturday Night Live. I had been a huge fan of the show since the late '70s, and suddenly this new kid emerged on "Wayne's World" as Wayne Campbell, an Everyman from Aurora, Illinois, based on friends from Mike's past-just a party-on kid who loves music and stages a show in his basement. And on "Sprockets," in which he played Dieter, a Pop Art-loving, dancecrazed German talk-show host. One of my personal favorites was a hypoglycemic 6-year-old named Phillip. He's this hilariously energetic kid who's kept in a harness and says "I love you, you know." On the surface, all of those characters were broadly comedic, but underneath they involved layers of intelligent design.
I met Mike in the early '90s when he walked up to my wife, Susanna Hoffs, and me after a premiere to say he owned a signed Susanna Hoffs Rickenbacker guitar.
After that, we started hanging out. On one occasion, he mentioned he was working on a project about an English spy frozen in the '60s and thawed out in the '90s. I offered to read the script, as a friend, and I quickly fell in love with Austin Powers. He was just as hilarious and specific as many of Mike's SNL characters but even more so. He came with his own complete world. I wrote a lot of supportive notes along with some suggestions. He liked them-and then he asked me to direct it.
この記事は New York magazine の Dec 2-15, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は New York magazine の Dec 2-15, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Enchanting and Exhausting
Wicked makes a charming but bloated film.
Nicole Kidman Lets Loose
She's having a grand old time playing wealthy matriarchs on the verge of blowing their lives up.
How Mike Myers Makes His Own Reality
Directing him in Austin Powers taught me what it means to be really, truly funny.
The Art of Surrender
Four decades into his career, Willem Dafoe is more curious about his craft than ever.
The Big Macher Restaurant Is Back
ON A WARM NIGHT in October, a red carpet ran down a length of East 26th Street.
Showing Its Age
Borgo displays a confidence that can he only from experience.
Keeping It Simple on Lower Fifth
Jack Ceglic and Manuel Fernandez-Casteleiro's apartment is full of stories but not distractions.
REASON TO LOVE NEW YORK
THERE'S NOT MUCH in New York that has staying power. Every other day, a new scandal outscandals whatever we were just scandalized by; every few years, a hotter, scarier downtown set emerges; the yoga studio up the block from your apartment that used to be a coffee shop has now become a hybrid drug front and yarn store.
Disunion: Ingrid Rojas Contreras
A Rift in the Family My in-laws gave me a book by a eugenicist. Our relationship is over.
Gwen Whiting
Two years after a mass recall and a bacterial outbreak, the founder of the Laundress is on cleanup duty.