The “genius” 1999 movie scene Rob Lowe will “never forget for as long as I live”
Rob Lowe was blown away when his co-star pulled double duty on set.
Although Lowe was one of the young actors who was identified as a member of the Brat Pack in the 1980s, he wasn’t stung by the label because he was able to evolve into a different type of star.
While his attempts at making an erotic thriller didn’t pan out as he had expected, Lowe found a new act in comedy, where he would often appear as over-the-top villains when cast opposite established stars. One of his most memorable turns was in Wayne’s World, the hit adaptation of the Saturday Night Live sketch that turned Mike Myers and Dana Carvey into massive stars. Lowe then worked consistently throughout the ‘90s and was able to reunite with Myers for a brief uncredited cameo in 1997’s Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.
The Austin Powers franchise hit at just the right time when audiences were willing to laugh at a comedic version of a James Bond-style spy movie, and Myers impressed everyone by playing both the titular hero and his nemesis, Dr Evil, whose voice he reportedly based on SNL producer Lorne Michaels. The film’s sequel, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, got even wilder when Myers decided to add a new character to play with ‘Fat Bastard’.
Lowe joined the sequel for a more prominent role as young Number Two, a version of the character played by Robert Wagner, and after witnessing what Myers was doing on set, Lowe was blown away, noting, “My number one memory of that was watching Mike as Dr Evil and as Fat Bastard. It was like I was a kid”.
Lowe said that the most memorable sequence in the film, involving Myers’ impromptu rapping, was one of the most astonishing experiences he had ever had filming a movie.
“When Mike ad-libbed ‘Get in my belly’, I was right there,” he recalled, “I’ll never forget it as long as I live. ‘I want my baby back, baby back, baby back’, and then the rap that Dr Evil does with Mini-Me. For a person who loves comedy, like I do, to watch someone like Mike just channelling and crushing like that, forget being the actor in it, just being a fan of seeing genius like that. That’s why we still talk about it. Those characters are iconic.”
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me was an unprecedented success that managed to entirely outgross the first film in its opening weekend, and generated enough enthusiasm to make a third film, Austin Powers in Goldmember, which brought in Michael Caine to play Austin’s father. Although the track record of comedy sequels is not great, all three Austin Powers films are quite strong; there basically isn’t another comedy franchise that has that level of consistency.
Myers essentially left Hollywood after the disastrous reception to The Love Guru, but rumours of a fourth Austin Powers film continue to pop up, especially since he is returning with Shrek 5 next year. Should it actually be made, it would be nice to see Lowe brought back in to reprise his role, as he has been doing some underrated acting work within the last decade in films like Behind the Candelabra and this year’s The Musical.
