On Friday Hitfix carried a report saying Mike Myers closed a deal to return to play Austin Powers in Austin Powers 4 for New Line Cinema. I held off on the report because that last sentence is really all the news there was to it… until now.
Deadline followed up on the story and reports “no deal has yet been signed” but there is a bit of new life in the franchise yet. Apparently New Line made Myers an offer six months to a year ago and heard nothing as “Myers went AWOL” after the disappointment.
Six months to a year ago slightly jibes with Myers talking about the project last April when he told MTV, “Things are on track. It’s hard to keep a Stanley Cup team together and I’m very happy how insanely well it’s gone. Then it gets hard to get everybody all together.”
To go along with that quote, franchise director Jay Roach was talking about the film a month earlier saying, “[Mike Myers is] working on ideas for it, people are definitely talking about it and I’m all good for it.” However, it appears New Line didn’t hear a peep from Myers until now.
Deadline reports that after offering Myers a deal six months ago it wasn’t until last week his reps expressed interest. Now the question is just what film exactly is he interested in making?
Back in 2008, it looked like New Line was going to move forward with Austin Powers 4 with a script co-written by Myers and Mike McCullers (Baby Mama). The story was said to be very personal for Myers and a father-son relationship would be at the center of the story focusing on Dr. Evil (Myers) and his son Scott Evil (Seth Green). Apparently the film will be an homage to Myers’ father who died on November 22, 1991 of Alzheimer’s. Is this the same film Myers wants to make now?
We haven’t seen Myers on screen since Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds in 2009, though we did hear him last year in Shrek Forever After. Is he ready to return to the franchise that skyrocketed the “Saturday Night Live” alum to superstardom or is this yet another false start? Do you even want a fourth Austin Powers feature? I know the news doesn’t exactly light my fire.
