Did Mike Myers fire his bodyguard for making eye contact?
Picture the scene: you’re a security guard posted outside the trailer of comedy icon Mike Myers, who is shooting the latest film that requires him to alter his look completely with prosthetics, wigs, and a wacky costume. You’ve been warned that there is one prerequisite to working in this capacity, though: whatever you do, do not look Myers in the eye, because if you and the star make eye contact, you’ll be fired so fast your head will spin.
In many ways, the idea of a famous actor insisting that none of the below-the-line workers on a movie set can look him in the eye is one of the oldest Hollywood clichés around. It’s used in satirical shows and movies to poke fun at high-falutin stars who have lost touch with reality, and at this point, sounds closer to a stereotype of a “difficult” actor than anything a real person would actually do.
This is why it was so surprising when Jay Brody, a Vancouver radio DJ who moonlights as security on Hollywood films, accused Myers on social media of perpetuating this very stereotype. Beneath a video of Keanu Reeves being a customarily nice guy by helping crew members carry heavy equipment, Brody wrote, “People saying that ‘he shouldn’t be praised for helping’ have no idea what it’s like working in film. Mike Myers had me fired off the set of The Love Guru because I made eye contact with him, and I was there as his bodyguard.”
Naturally, the internet was set ablaze with astonished reactions to Myers’ alleged diva behaviour, and his representatives quickly issued a denial. “Mike knows nothing about this,” a spokesperson told Entertainment Weekly. “Not aware of anyone being hired or fired.” However, Paramount Pictures, the studio behind The Love Guru, and Marco Schnabel, the film’s director, refused to comment on the matter, which perhaps didn’t bode too well for Myers’ innocence.
Brody wasn’t one to let a studio denial throw him off course, though, and he soon elaborated on his awkward encounter with Myers on his radio show. Once again, he doubled down on being warned ahead of time by the security guard company, “Here’s the catch, can’t look at him.” He claimed he responded with a bemused, “I need to look at him, to see him, to be his bodyguard?” to which he was told, “If you look at him, you’re going to get fired.”
However, when Brody actually stationed himself outside of Myers’ trailer, he realised no one had shown him what Myers would look like in costume as Guru Pitka, the “number two guru in the world” and quite possibly Myers’ most ill-advised character in a career that has featured more than a few. “I just see a man approaching in a long wig, a fake beard, and I’m like, ‘I think that’s Mike Myers,'” Brody revealed. “I look down to not look at him because I don’t want to get fired, but I realised I can’t just let anyone into the trailer, so I look up.”
At this point, Brody and Myers supposedly locked eyes for a split second, and he gave the megastar a curt nod to “let him know I’m cool.” Then, he looked away, Myers went about his business, and Brody didn’t think anything more of it. Until, that is, he received a phone call within the hour telling him he was being let go, and that he had to “get off set” because he “broke this weird rule”.
Overall, it’s hard to say for sure whether Myers truly had his bodyguard fired for having the temerity to look him in the eye. However, Brody’s story arguably sounds too specific to be made up, and rumours have abounded for years that Myers is a notoriously prickly customer who may have a habit of acting haughty around people he doesn’t have to be nice to. So, if I had to guess? I’d say your best bet would be to look away if you ever encounter the artist formerly known as Austin Powers.
