Jay Roach talks AUSTIN POWERS 4, but Can Mike Myers get HIS Mojo Back?
Could Mike Myers find his comedy mojo, by returning to Austin Powers, the Bond-parodying character he created and scripted for 3 successful films, and who once had his shaggadelic mojo stolen? Since the last Austin Powers film, Goldmember, Myers has been on a comedic down spiral, kicked off by the inappropriately adult Cat In The Hat, a body of progressively worse Shrek sequels, and ending with the toxic Love Guru -- which fell $22 million dollars short of its budget with its worldwide boxoffice run and has an abysmal 14% Rating on RottenTomatoes. Some cred got thrown his way via a an appearance in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, but the mostly serious role did little to restore our faith in his ability to make us laugh.
The last decade has been much smoother for the other key member of the Austin Powers team, with franchise director Jay Roach retaining his mojo going on to helm Meet The Parents and Meet The Fockers, and the brilliant and Emmy award-winning HBO political comedy Recount, while producing a slew of other hits -- 50 First Dates, Borat. In fact, just last week at ShoWest, Roach was honored as the Comedy Director of the Decade!
While there, Roach -- who is producing the third Fockers film, and has wrapped directing the all star comedy Dinner for Schmucks -- gave a little update on what is going on with Austin Powers 4, and where the fourth installment can take the International Man of Mystery, who has already battled arch nemesis Dr. Evil on the moon and in volcanos, while backwards and forward through time.
Roach told MTV:
[Mike Myers is] working on ideas for it, people are definitely talking about it and I'm all good for it, I love those characters. Mike gave me my first shot directing on 'Austin Powers 1.' Just said, 'Hey, you should direct this movie,' when I hadn't directed much of anything. So I love that group of people and what could be better than going back into that.
As for where can Austin go next, Roach teased:
That's hard to say. Somewhere you haven't thought of.
We reported back in 08' that Myers was already working on the script. A lot of ground has already been covered, so I guess he might be having trouble finding a good jump off point. But with Roach eager to return, I hope this can be a film that restores Myers comedic glory. Now if he could only do another Wayne's World sequel, Dana Carvey desperately needs some help too.