The movie Mike Myers will always regret never making: “I was interested and still am”
Even when he was interested in making movies, Mike Myers wasn’t what anyone would call the most prolific actor in the business. His films weren’t for everyone, but he always deliberated for a long time before committing to anything, which didn’t always work in his favour.
Wayne’s World was a passion project, albeit one that was beset by behind-the-scenes issues, many of which were of his own making. So I Married an Axe Murderer was also a passion project, albeit one that was beset by behind-the-scenes issues, many of which were of his own making. On the plus side, the Austin Powers trilogy largely went off without a hitch.
The same can’t be said of The Cat in the Hat, which knocked Myers’ star power down a peg or two, or The Love Guru, which almost eroded it entirely. Excluding the Wayne’s World, Austin Powers, and Shrek franchises, the Canadian comic only appeared in seven films between 1993 and 2008, and he spent a lot of the time in between developing productions that never made it in front of the cameras.
There was the feature-length Saturday Night Live spinoff, Dieter, a Keith Moon biopic, a fresh take on The Secret Life of Walter Mitty that was eventually directed by and starred Ben Stiller, the leading role in an early iteration of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and the role of Inspector Clouseau in a Pink Panther reboot, which was ultimately filled by Steve Martin.
However, the one closest to his heart was Scooby-Doo, of all things. In the summer of 1998, it was announced that Myers would star as Shaggy in a live-action feature based on the classic cartoon and co-write the script alongside Jay Kogan. It was something he’d been dreaming of since he was a kid, and he really didn’t want to let it go.
“I don’t know what’s happening on Scooby-Doo,” he told Kathryn Jenson White. “I’m waiting on a script. I was interested and still am, but it’s all script, script, script. I loved Scooby-Doo as a kid. It was the comfort food of my childhood. I loved dogs. I thought Shaggy would be interesting if he were this kind of politically correct guy. It’s a hippie update.”
Despite his desperation to turn his childhood dreams into a blockbuster reality, once Raja Gosnell was brought in to direct the picture, Myers’ services were no longer required. Instead, he was replaced by Matthew Lillard, who’s been dining out on the character for over 20 years by reprising the role of Shaggy dozens of times across television, streaming, and video games.
What would Myers’ Scooby-Doo have looked like? Probably not too dissimilar from the version that was ultimately released in 2002, but with more emphasis on his particular brand of comedy. The James Gunn-scripted flick was more of an ensemble piece, but a studio wouldn’t have hired the Austin Powers mastermind in the late ’90s with the intention of billing him third, as Lillard was.
It’s become a strangely beloved movie in the decades since, though, and there are no guarantees that would have happened had Myers stayed the course. He didn’t, and his lifelong enthusiasm for the property wasn’t enough to even bring it to the starting line, never mind the finish.
