It is an odd combination to bring out the
star of AUSTIN POWERS together with Antonio Banderas, the man many
women and frankly quite a few men would define as sexy.
But if you happen to be promoting SHREK
THE THIRD, it would seem just to have Puss In Boots enjoy
the ride with Shrek, just as the cat would enjoy Shrek’s bed,
would make sense. Thus,
together they were and surprisingly, there was a strong similarity
to the two of them. Both seem
to have accepted their fame and have not let it go to their heads.
And they both have seen highs in their careers and a few
lows. But Mike Myers is always
entertaining as Shrek, and Antonio is super suave as Puss.
When they both came into our room at The
Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, they seemed to be ready for us.
Both were incredibly nice and seemed to be lacking something
that many men of their caliber may have, conceit.
They both are genuinely nice guys and Antonio certainly has
his way with the ladies as I picked up from the women in the room.
They both spoke about SHREK THE THIRD and how they felt about
the success of the franchise. I
also noticed that Mike seemed a bit uncomfortable with all the
attention on him as it was for most of the interview.
It seems he rarely does interviews and it was really nice to
be able to hear him talk about his reasons for that.
And yes, about the possibility of another AUSTIN POWERS.
Groovy baby!
| Antonio Banderas | Mike Myers |
So
when you first got “Shrek”, did you have any expectations that
it would be this kind of successful franchise?
MM: I
thought the idea was great and I thought, you know… Jeffrey
Katzenberg said that I would like you to be in an animated movie.
And I like Jeffrey, so I said, tell me when and what to wear.
And then he said it’s called “Shrek” and I said that is
the worst title in history… and I was right [Laughing].
I never know anything is gonna be anything, I do my best and
see what happens.
It
seems like you’ve been keeping a kind of low profile lately or is
that…?
I write everything I do, on the average it
takes you about sixty months from the first molecule of an idea to
it being in front of an audience.
I’m actually, for somebody who creates their own stuff;
I’m well ahead of that curve always.
I’m usually three years which is, you know, thirty-six
months. In two months
I’m starting this movie called “The Love Guru”.
I spend a year developing… that’s just what I do with
Austin Powers, sort of , the Marx Brothers used to tour their movies
for six months and I like to you know, sort of… when I was on
“Saturday Night Live” I’d have the luxury of trying it out
that week and seeing what was gonna be what.
After that with Austin Powers, I would tour for a year and
then take a year and a half to write and a year and a half to bring
it to people so it always ends up being about three and a half
years.
Are
you planning on having a series of films with “The Love Guru”?
MM: I’ve
never gone into anything with the intention of having a series.
You can’t. I
think that it’s just one movie at a time thing.
And then if it connects with people, they come back and say,
would you like to do another one?
And you address it at that time.
Like
with “Wayne’s World”?
MM: I
barely felt there was enough for a second one to be honest.
So I’m very careful with Austin Powers, I did actually feel
that there was a necessity to revisit the world.
How do
you compare the Love Guru from other characters you’ve created?
MM: The
Love Guru is… I love broad comedy.
If you have to say… “Fail-Safe” was the name of the
movie right… yeah, “Fail-Safe” and “Dr. Strangelove”.
Give the choice between those two delivery systems, the idea
of impending nuclear war and the madness of that, I would always
choose “Dr. Strangelove”, you know what I mean?
And this movie has more message than my previous movies.
And that’s taken longer because I don’t want it to be a
situation [where] I suffer for my art and now it’s your turn.
I wanna make sure that it is actually better and sharper
comedy, if it is to be a delivery system with more of a message.
Can
you talk about any particular challenges coming back for “Shrek
the Third”?
MM: I’ll
let Antonio speak so the girls in the room can swoon.
[Laughing]
Antonio B anderas:
Challenge? No.
People ask me if this is more difficult than normal movies,
theatre or some of the other ways you can express yourself.
Actually it’s not. It’s
very easy. If you know
the method, you have to follow and understand the procedure and
stuff like that. It’s
actually very easy. It
wasn’t at the beginning, because I didn’t know what I was
stepping into. I mean, I
came to this Country seventeen years ago not speaking a word of
English. The least thing
I would have thought was that somebody was going to call me for the
use of my voice only. So
it was very surprising in the beginning.
And the only problems that I had in the first one, was the
fact that I was actually in previews on Broadway, when I had to do
the “hairball”. [Laughing
as he mimics the hairball] And at night I couldn’t sing, I just
went to the theatre and all the girls were like, what happened to
you… hangover?
Are
you going to be involved with the “Nine” movie?
AB: I
don’t know. I have an
interview with Rob Marshall on Friday in New York.
Interview?
AB: Interview with
a Vampire… [Laughing] and I don’t
know what’s going to happen, I know that Rob came to the
theatre, he saw “Nine” in the theatre on Broadway and I know
that he loved it, but I don’t know the conception he has in his
mind, what the movie should be about.
It may happen but it may not happen you know.
Whatever happens is good, it’s fine.
On the
set visit for this movie Mike, they said they had to change certain
things. That you
insisted on
certain things being added…
how much input do you have on the development of the character or
the film?
MM: Well
the process is a strange process and it’s extremely well-written
and directed. I think
this is the best of the three. I
think that Jeffrey Katzenberg, Aron Warner, Chris Miller, Andrew
Adamson, all the writers and all the animators have done such a
great job that it is not so much input as it is trying to figure out
what’s going on, because you’re not shown an entire script at
any time. You’re only
given like, if this is the entire script, [gesturing an example] you
record this much and a couple months later you record this much.
You don’t get a sense of the totality, so my questions
were, where exactly am I in the film, like am I anxious about being
the king here or do I like this Artie character in this scene.
Because you’re never given an entire script so occasionally
I would… they’re very respectful to me, [the producers and such]
it’s amazing to me. I
feel like I’m on a great Stanley Cup team and I’m a rookie and
they would let me take a few shifts.
They’re very respectful to me about my input.
What
makes this one the best of the three?
MM: I
think it’s… every serial character learns the same lesson in a
different rite of passage. So
you have to have a reason why you come back and visit them.
And it has such a sense of three-ness of it that smartly
honored the audience for having invested in 1 and 2 and then have
delivered on 3. They’re
such great entertainers, I really feel like the whole team, you
know, that I go to school every time I like… oh, that’s a good
idea… oh, that’s a good idea… and they’ve given this… the
first time we meet him, he’s a self-loathing ogre who doesn’t
accept himself, doesn’t feel he’s worthy of love.
The second one, he doesn’t feel he’s worthy of marriage.
And this one, he doesn’t feel he’s worthy of being a
father of a country or a father of a child.
It’s a logical progression, you know what I mean.
It’s a smart progression.
You feel the weight of 1 and 2 in 3 and you feel honored to
have watched 1 and 2. I
can say that because I’m a fan of the movies, because all I do is
the voice.
[To
Mike] Could you be an actor for hire anymore?
MM: It
gets hard. I have to be
honest. Many great
scripts come my way but when you’ve invested a year and a half
into something, then it becomes a year and half of molecules versus,
well do I just give that one up.
And I love making stuff.
I draw, I play the Ukulele as well [Laughing].
Okay everybody… calm down.
I get just as much excitement out of figuring out “Here
Comes the Sun” or getting the shade right on a tree, as I do
making a movie. I was
well indulged as a child by my relentlessly self improving working
class parents to express myself.
I’ve enjoyed it and so, part of why I take so long too
is… I am enjoying myself.
So
your sense of creating comes from your parents?
MM: Almost
entirely, yeah, and my brothers who are very funny.
How
had that manifested in you as a child?
MM: Well,
do you ever watch CSPAN, the British Parliament?
That was my kids show. That
sort of like [with an English accent] I’d like to say something…
Answer the question… SHAME… RESIGN… [Laughing] It was like,
elbows flying just to be seen and to be able to talk at the table.
But most of my acting for the first little while, I didn’t
act from down here [below his chest] because the table was here so
when I went on stage at Second City… what do I do with my legs?
[Laughing]
So you
like to have that control. Do
you lose that control as an actor for hire?
MM: I
think control is crazy. If
you’re working with really talented people, what you wanna do is
the most you can be. You
know, like a big freighter, it takes like a hundred miles for it to
turn around? And the
ratio of the rudder to the freighter… the most you can do is try
and steer a little bit here and there.
And just let all the great artists, like Jay Roach came in
with a full set of storyboards, he knew exactly what he wanted to do
at all times. And all I
would just sort of be is a comedic stunt coordinator.
And then you get weird conversations too, like, a talking
squirrel would never say that. [Laughing]
Are
there directors you might consider working for?
MM: I
consider working with every director.
No
questions asked?
Oh yeah, of course.
Would I care to mention who those directors are?
Stephen Frears… Dead
or alive? Well, dead is
easier… [Stanley] Kubrick of course, I’d move cinderblocks for
Kubrick.
If
Woody Allen asked you, how would you get along?
MM: I’d
be honored.
For
both of you, is the “stardom” of your characters in “Shrek”
different from your real-life “stardom”?
AB: In
my case, no, because it’s very obvious that we use some mocking of
some of the characters that I have done before.
And even in some way, people’s perception of my own persona
which doesn’t correspond with reality actually. [Laughing]
MM: It’s
a hundred percent accurate actually. [Laughing]
AB: The
possibility that the character gives me to laugh at some of the
characters that I have done and laugh at myself is very healthy.
And I’ve been always open for that and having problem doing
so at all.
Antonio,
can you say anything about the Puss In Boots spin-off that we keep
hearing about? Have they
ever really come to you and
talked about it?
AB: Yes,
it happened a little before the Cannes Film Festival, two years ago.
[They] came to me and said, you know I think we have a
possibility of doing a movie with just the cat.
At the beginning it came out as an idea to do a television
movie, but then they thought about it and they saw a possibility of
creating a feature film. And
I know that they have a script already, and I understand that right
now the set of movies that they have prepared for Shrek, from what I
understand is five movies [This was not officially confirmed].
So Puss In Boots would be in between 4th
and 5th. But
you know, we have related to audiences, when you do a franchise and
you have movie after the other, it’s just related to whatever the
audience is going to say. Obviously,
we hope that the movies will perform fantastic with audiences all
around the world so we will have the opportunity to make these
movies. But I would love
to have the opportunity to develop more personality of this cat.
I never thought… when they called me in the beginning I was
called just to be a recurring character, that I was going to be in
one episode and leave the series.
I am very happy now that I am part of the family.
What
about “Shrek The Halls”, what’s different about that from the
theatrical films?
MM: Well
it’s broken up for commercials, first of all [Laughing].
I guess that’s obvious.
It’s very sweet. They
have a lot of charmth… charmth?… charmth!…
AB: Dictionary
please? [Laughing]
Are
you involved in “Shrek the Halls”?
AB: Ah,
yeah. We tell the story
of how we understand Christmas… to him. [Mike]
MM: Yes.
Shrek doesn’t know… I don’t know how much I’m allowed
to give away, that’s the only thing.
Mike,
do you think a bunch of ten-year-olds would know who Shrek is but
not you?
MM: I
had the oddest experience… in New York City, like three-year-olds,
“there’s Mike Myers” and ninety-three-year-olds, I don’t
know how, it’s not anything by design.
Little kids, because of DVD’s now and whatever, they’ll
find… they’ll see one movie then they’ll see all the movies of
that guy. That’s kind
of the thing I found. It’s
weird. But it is a great
experience when little kids light up and are happy to see Shrek.
Can
you talk about the challenges of playing Keith Moon in “See Me,
Feel Me: Keith Moon,
Naked for your Pleasure”? His
personality on-screen, in depicting that?
MM: About
four and a half years ago, I got a call from security that Roger
Daltrey wanted to come and see me… I was like, that guy’s like,
ROGER DALTREY! So he
came and he said, [with an English accent] “I’d really love you
to play Keith.” I
was like… cuz I’ve drummed my whole life, I love The Who, I
loved Keith, I was just so fascinated, I am fascinated by that time,
I made Austin Powers because of my fascination.
I grew up in an English house, there’s nobody more English
than an Englishman who no longer lives in England.
So I was just inundated with English culture.
And Donald Marguiles the Pulitzer winning playwright has
written the screenplay. And
it’s great so I’m excited. It
will probably be “The Love Guru” then Moon.
So no
more Austin Powers?
MM: No, there’s a
fully conceived idea for the forth.
I can just say that it’s from Dr. Evil’s point of view.
So if you balanced how much it was Austin and Dr. Evil, its
more Dr. Evil than Austin.
Antonio
are you gonna be in “Sin City 2”?
AB: I
don’t know, everybody said that to me, but
I don’t know, I didn’t receive a call from Robert
Rodriguez. If I’m
gonna be, he may call me the night before.
Let me know what you think.
Send questions and comments to jimmyo@joblo.com.