Mike Myers made the jump from Saturday Night Live to the big screen with Wayne's World,
became a superstar with Austin Powers, and a household name thanks to Shrek.
And then he seemed to pretty much drop off the face of the Earth.
But why?
Mike Myers' movies and characters have left a mark on popular culture that few other comedy
stars could ever hope to match, and his ability to wring laughs from so many different concepts
is legendary.
So where'd he go — and when can we expect him to make his eventual comeback?
Here's the real reason why Hollywood stopped casting Mike Myers.
Hobbies
During his time out of the spotlight, Myers has kept busy with a number of hobbies, ranging
from playing in a floor hockey league twice a week to Dungeons and Dragons.
He's a well-known major hockey fan, often attending Toronto Maple Leafs games and sharing
his thoughts on the occasional NHL broadcast.
When you're rich and having fun, why bother working if you don't have to?
"But what I'd really love, is to do Wayne's World for a living.
It might happen.
Ya!
And monkeys might fly outa my butt!"
Directing
Another big reason Myers hasn't been in front of the camera in recent years?
Well, he's been spending time behind it instead.
In 2014, Myers directed Supermensch, a documentary about the life of Shep Gordon, a legendary
music manager whose clients ranged from Blondie and Luther Vandross to Alice Cooper.
Cooper introduced Gordon to Myers after making a cameo in Wayne's World, and Gordon has since
served as a mentor to the actor, even taking the star into his home for two months after
the death of Myers's father.
Pigeonholed
Mike Myers is understandably known as a comedian first and foremost.
But while other comedians such as Robin Williams were able to transition into serious roles,
Myers remains typecast despite dramatic turns in films like Studio 54 and Quentin Tarantino's
Inglorious Basterds.
It could be that Hollywood believes audiences only want to see Myers cracking jokes, preventing
him from exploring his full acting range.
Flops and bombs
For younger audiences who may not necessarily associate Myers with Austin Powers or Shrek,
there's another movie that unfortunately comes to mind: The Love Guru.
The 2008 comedy presented Myers as, well, a love guru whose dream is to be featured
on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
He brought his Austin Powers costar Verne Troyer to the film along with several big
names, including Justin Timberlake, Jessica Alba, and Ben Kingsley.
But the film was a massive box office bomb and a critical disaster as well.
Myers hasn't made a movie since.
"What the hell happened to you?!"
Bestselling author
During his time away from filmmaking, Myers filled his time becoming a bestselling author,
penning a book called Canada.
The book explores what his beloved country means to him via photographs, anecdotes, and
his trademark humor.
It was a massive success north of the border, with Myers embarking on a nationwide promotional
tour to celebrate both his book and his homeland.
Choosy
Even if Hollywood wanted to cast Myers, they'd have to come up with a pretty amazing script
to drag him away from all of his other passions.
So far, according to Myers, they haven't even bothered trying.
He told GQ in 2014 that he had only received 15 scripts in the last quarter century, in
part because "I do turn virtually everything down."
Given his reputation as such a tough sell, it's no surprise he hasn't been getting as
many offers as he used to.
"Zip it."
"You can't even-"
"Zip it!"
"Zip..."
"Look all-"
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury Exzipit A."
Television disappointment
In early 2015, HBO announced Myers had signed a two-year deal with the network to make…something.
Details were never specified, and the following year, it was reported that Myers eventually
opted out of the contract because his production deal never led to an order of his series.
It's unfortunate that this particular deal never panned out, but it signals that Myers
is interested in returning to television, either as a director, producer, or even an
actor.
Fatherhood
Myers has also been busy playing a couple of other major roles: husband and father.
He and his second wife, Kelly Tisdale, recently welcomed a new addition to their family, a
daughter named Paulina Kathleen.
She's merely the latest in a line of kids that includes son Spike and daughter Sunday
Molly.
How important is family life to Myers?
In an interview with Deadline he said, "Anyone who tells you fatherhood is the greatest thing
that can happen to you, they are understating it.
I am the happiest I have ever been in my life.
I knew I wanted to be a father, I didn’t know it was going to be this awesome or that
my kid would come out so beautiful and lovely."
It's tough to imagine Myers is eager to star in anything that would take him away from
his family.
What's next?
Mike Myers' incredible success with a string of early hits might have established unreasonable
expectations for his later efforts.
But it also gave him the financial freedom to pick his projects carefully — and that's
exactly what he's done over the last several years, taking the time to indulge outside
interests while waiting on the perfect script.
Happily for fans, that dry spell may soon come to an end: Myers is attached to return
for a fifth Shrek movie, due to arrive in 2019, and he's also booked another non-comedy,
signing on to star in the "noir thriller" Terminal alongside Margot Robbie and Simon
Pegg.
He's even open to the idea of a third Wayne's World movie.
There's only one thing to say to that.
"Party on Wayne."
"Party on Garth, alright!
Excellent, excellent, ok."
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