Getty Images/Lucy Nicholson(LOS ANGELES) — Today marks the 20th anniversary of the U.S. release of Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.
The send-up of ’60s spy movies starred Mike Myers as the crushed-velvet-suit-wearing, oversexed, barely competent but well-meaning British secret agent returning from a 1960s deep-freeze to fight his returning nemesis, Dr. Evil, also played by Myers.
Although the movie opened slow, to mixed reviews, it exploded on DVD, not only launching two sequels but becoming a cultural phenomenon, with Austin’s catch phrases, like “Yeah, baby,” on the lips of seemingly everyone in 1997 and 1998.
“It is always a surprise which lines are people’s favorite,” Myers told The Hollywood Reporter last month, singling out the line in which Dr. Evil, having been in deep freeze for 30 years, wants to hold the world ransom for what in 1967 must have seemed like a lot of money, one million dollars. “The ‘one million dollars’ has been the one that is so satisfying because it is sort of a fragile joke,” he said, “And it has really stayed in the culture.”
Myers and director Jay Roach old The Hollywood Reporter they’ve been toying with a fourth Austin Powers movie for 15 years. “Until Mike feels like he has a concept that earns a fourth, it won’t happen,” Roach said. “But if it did, we have all agreed that we would be delighted to get back into it.”
As for the enduring popularity of the bumbling secret agent out of step with the times, Myers’ co-star, Elizabeth Hurley, who played Vanessa Kensington, told the trade. “I have just been invited to a friend’s son’s 18th birthday party and the theme is … Austin Powers. It seems incredible. Sadly, I don’t think I can fit into any of my costumes.”
Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
