Like many comedians, Mike Myers has become known for his memorable lines in starring roles. The actor who coined the phrases “Oh, behave” and “Yeah, baby” had another iconic line he used in both the animated flick Shrek and the third Austin Powers film.
Mike Myers’ iconic ‘Austin Powers’ and ‘Shrek’ line
Austin Powers is known for his catchphrases. The flirtatious character says, “You’re going the right way for a smacked bottom,” multiple times throughout the franchise. In fact, Myers even said it in Madonna’s music video for “Beautiful Stranger,” where he played his infamous character.
According to IMDb, the line “You’re on your way to a smacked bottom” made its way into another one of the actors’ projects. In the first Shrek movie, which premiered in 2001, when Donkey starts to annoy Shrek with his humming, the ogre says, “You’re going the right way for a smacked bottom.” Apparently, Myers was annoyed by one of the directors, leading to an improvisation that made it into the film.
Myers brought the phrase back in Austin Powers in Goldmember when he said, “You’re going the right way for a smacked bottom, and I don’t care who knows it.”
Myers inspires his co-stars to improvise
The Love Guru actor flexed his Hollywood power to convince studio executives to give him creative freedom on Shrek. After comedian Chris Farley, the original voice of the ogre, died, Myers stepped in to fill the role.
According to USA Today, Myers felt that his regular voice would not work for the character and convinced DreamWorks to spend more than $4 million to rework the entire role so that he could use a Scottish accent. Myers explained, “I always thought that Shrek was raised working-class. And since Lord Farquaad (the villain) was played English, I thought of Scottish.”
Myers isn’t the only one who improvises in his films. Long-time actor, Rob Lowe, is responsible for one of the funniest moments in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.
In his book, Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography, Lowe said the scene where he tries to stand up to Dr. Evil was entirely ad-libbed dialogue. The St. Elmo’s Fire actor explained he came up with the idea on the spot to have Myers bounce the giant globe off his head, and it was comedic gold. Lowe claims it was one of his favorite scenes in the movie.
Cameron Diaz, who spent a lot of time with Myers on Shrek, playing the role of Fiona, was not shy about improvising her lines either. During a particular scene, Diaz inadvertently burped into the microphone, and the moment made it into the movie. Eddie Murphy, who voiced Donkey, immediately picked up on it and said to Shrek, “She’s as nasty as you are!”
Myers improvises a large portion of his lines
According to Screen Rant, Myers once said almost 40% of the lines in the Austin Powers movies were improvised dialogue. One of the most infamous improvisational scenes was when Dr. Evil (Myers) shushes Scott (Seth Green) and tells him to “Zip it!” The hilarity ensued for more than a minute as the actors played off each other’s comedic skills.
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