Twenty years, baby!
Also added to the mix was Dr.
Evil’s miniature clone, appropriately-named Mini-Me, who was portrayed by Verne Troyer.
Credit: Kimberly Wright/New Line (2); New Line (2); Strawberry Blossom/Getty Images
“And we were so much more allowed to explore the essence of it.
With Myers already playing Austin Powers and Dr.
Evil, his own struggles with weight served as the inspiration for his latest character, Fat Bastard.
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Potato Head,” explains Myers.
“So if Austin has bushy ’60s hair then maybe Dr.
Evil should have no hair.
Because I have this giant mole, then Austin has a mole and Dr.
Evil will have a scar that is covering that mole.
And in that same Mr.
Even the name Dr.
Evil was he’s an evil doctor, so I thought his name should be Dr.
Evil, so if you have a bad guy who is big, he’s Fat Bastard.'”
And I thought what if there is a sensitivity around his weight.
And so that is where Fat Bastard came from.
Marlon Brando helped give birth to Mini-Me.
“The casting of Verne is entirely the genius of Mr. Jay Roach,” shares Myers.
“Jay calls me, ‘Drop everything and come see this tape right now!’
So I zip across Los Angeles to his office and he shows me the tape of Verne.
And I’m like, ‘Oh my god, this guy is perfect.’
And Jay said, ‘We have to offer it to him now.’
So we didn’t even think of another person.
And he just so got it immediately and was just so game.
We would give Verne more and more stuff to do and he would knock it out of the park.
Verne was a great physical comedian for a human being of any size.
But then when you think of the challenges of being that small, it’s almost even more extraordinary.
Another person that I had that with was Phil Hartman.
In April 2018, Troyer dies at the age of 49.
“His passingwas very, very sad for Jay and I,” says Myers.
“We were so connected to Verne.
And it’s magical.
