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CNN Live Today

Mr. Moviefone Discusses New Austin Powers

Aired July 26, 2002 - 10:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: On the big screen this week, the Midas touch of Mike Myers. He returns as that toothy superspy Austin Powers in the latest spy send-up, called "Goldmember." Here's a quick preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE MYERS, ACTOR: I am a sexy beast. Lower the globe.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lower the globe.

MYERS: It's a tribute to all things British. Spy movies, all that is in our movies were heavily inspired by them.

Smashing, Basil -- a pimp-mobile.

Yeah, baby, yeah!

Some kids are forced to sit at a piano. They hate it at the time, and then they appreciate it later. I was forced to watched "Monty Python"; I loved it at the time, and I extremely very much appreciate it now.

You are going to start a riot, and we are going to walk out the front door.

VERNE TROYER, ACTOR: He's just amazing. And you always have a good time when you're working with him. You don't know exactly what to expect, so you just try to role along and react off what he's doing.

BEYONCE KNOWLES, ACTOR: When you see it, it looks so easy. But it was definitely -- it was his drama, but it was great. Every time you sit back, your afro gets flat. You've got to puff it back out. But it was fun. It was like a dream come true.

The future better get ready for me because I'm Foxy Cleopatra, and a whole lot of woman.

This is first movie with these legendary comedians. Every one was funny. And I don't know anything about that. So I was scared in the beginning. So I took that nervous energy, and I turned into, you know, a positive thing. MYERS: We wrote a script and as a joke we put in actual celebrities' names in the script, just to amuse ourselves, the sort of school of wouldn't-it-be-funny-if. And everybody that we put into the script for our own amusement actually showed up.

(CROSSTALK)

MYERS: Oh, great. Isn't this magical. One of my wires broke.

If somebody said to me you have to do an Austin Powers movie once a year for the rest of my life, I would be very, very happy. I had a great time.

Oops, I did it again, baby!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Yes, he is doing it again. But can "Austin Powers" do it again successfully, with the same mojo at the box office?

Joining us for an overview of this flick, and an unlikely competitor, the voice of "Mr. Moviefone," one of the four founders, Russ Leatherman.

Russ, good morning.

RUSS LEATHERMAN, CRITIC: What's up, party girl?

KAGAN: Oh, well, thank you -- yeah, baby!

LEATHERMAN: Yeah, baby!

KAGAN: Have you seen the movie?

LEATHERMAN: Yes, I have.

KAGAN: Is it funny? That's the bottom line people want to know: Is it funny?

LEATHERMAN: Yes, it is funny. In fact, there are some hilarious moments. It's not unlike the first two. If you liked the first one, if you liked the second one, you are going to like the third one. It's got new characters, Goldmember being the evil one. Michael Caine's in it. Seth Green returns. Mini-me, Fat Bastard, all those guys.

So it's the -- it's more of the same. If you like the first two, you are going to like this one. I think one a year every year might be a little bit too much. But you are going to like this one. There's a lot of -- there's a lot of bodily fluid humor.

KAGAN: Yes, if sensitive to the potty, stay at home, basically.

LEATHERMAN: It's a new Hollywood phenomenon I like to call urinetertainment. You know what I'm talking about?

KAGAN: Yes, I get your drift there, baby.

LEATHERMAN: OK, good.

So anyhow, but if you liked the first two, are going to like this one. The movie's going to huge. It's going to open big and really kind of reinvigorate the box office after it had a little slowdown last week.

KAGAN: You mentioned "Goldmember," which, of course, is the title of the movie, and it's the new Mike Myers character. Also Beyonce Knowles playing Foxy Cleopatra.

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: Go ahead.

LEATHERMAN: Foxy Cleopatra. You know, we get a new girl each movie. She's really good.

KAGAN: Let's take a look at the clip.

LEATHERMAN: Let's look at Foxy. Bring on Foxy.

I guess that's Goldmember who we're seeing right there. So attractive.

LEATHERMAN: Yes, that's all good stuff right there. Unbelievable. Look at that. Look at him go.

KAGAN: What about Beyonce Knowles. She's only 18. And I saw an interview with her -- 18 or 20 or something like that. And interview with her that says she was inspired by the blaxploitation movies that were out before she was even born. That made me feel old.

LEATHERMAN: You and me both.

Of course, Foxy Brown is part of her name. And you see that thing where Mike Myers puts his leg behind his head there as Goldmember. That makes him very popular at parties.

KAGAN: Yes.

LEATHERMAN: Just so you know.

KAGAN: Good-looking little party trick.

A nice part of this movie, kind of a touching part, is that Michael Caine is in this. And Mike Meyers apparently writes a letter to Michael Caine to say that you remind me of your father, you're my father's favorite movie star, in real life. So he kind of represents the father-figure in Mike Myers's life and the movie. Michael Caine was actually on earlier today, talking to our Bill Hemmer. We pulled a bit of that interview. I want to watch it with you and talk about Michael Caine's role.

LEATHERMAN: Great. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: ... some people say, the critics will say, you know, hey, this is stupid humor.

MICHAEL CAINE, ACTOR: Yes.

HEMMER: I think somebody said the other day it was toilet humor. I kind of like it myself.

CAINE: You know I do. I thought it was funny, yes.

HEMMER: Your thoughts on it.

CAINE: Well my thoughts on it are is people think it's silly and stuff.

HEMMER: Yes.

CAINE: They don't realize how clever Mike Myers is and what he's doing. I mean I'd put him up there along with Peter Sellers...

HEMMER: Really?

CAINE: ... and Alec Guinness as a comic actor, you know, and also he writes this stuff. He writes it. That was -- that was stolen from Bond when he runs...

HEMMER: Right. That's right.

CAINE: ... when Bond ran across the crocodiles, you know.

HEMMER: Everybody on the floor here is laughing.

CAINE: Yes. Yes.

HEMMER: But why do you think...

CAINE: The Scotch (ph) people don't like that Martin (ph) I'm telling you.

(LAUGHTER)

HEMMER: They do not.

CAINE: No, they don't.

(LAUGHTER)

CAINE: They're staying away from -- but once he'd look, there he goes. Listen when he...

HEMMER: Yes, we can watch it.

CAINE: Yes, but what's funny is when she shoots him down, there is the biggest... HEMMER: You got to go see the film for that.

CAINE: When I was in the theater, when she -- she then shoots the wire that he's hanging on and he falls on the ground, in the -- in the theater it was like the biggest whomp you ever heard.

HEMMER: You really do like this humor, don't you?

CAINE: It breaks me up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: You can tell that Michael Caine not only enjoyed being in the movie, but actually has a lot of laughs just by watching it.

LEATHERMAN: Definitely true. I don't know if everybody know, but Mike Myers is a pretty serious guy. What you see on the screen is not necessarily what you get in real life. In fact, his father passed away some years ago -- had a very close relationship with him, and said that Michael Caine kind of reminds him of his father. And in fact, there's kind of a father-son message in this movie, if you can believe that there's a message in "Goldmember."

But Mike's a brilliant comedian, but a pretty serious guy. And he was serious about this whole father thing.

KAGAN: I bet.

So bottom line, if you're looking for a good laugh, if you can get a giggle out of potty humor, take yourself to the theater this weekend.

LEATHERMAN: If urinetertainment -- this is a good thing to go see.

Also opening this week is "The Country Bears." It's from "The Country Bear Jamboree" So knucklehead decided to make a movie about this.

KAGAN: Talk about opposite end of the spectrum there, Russ.

LEATHERMAN: Well, I'm telling you, these things freaked me out as a kid. And I'd tell you a little bit more about the plot, but frankly, I was so freaked out, I just had to leave. Those eyes were staring at you going back and forth, animatronics doing this. I mean so -- the best best -- yes, there it is -- I mean look at this thing.

KAGAN: I remember bears and banjos from an exhibit to be skipped on my trip to Disneyland as a kid in southern California.

LEATHERMAN: Well, it's funny, because my parents, for whatever reason, always used to want to go to the Country Bear Jamboree and make us kids sit through it. And I would be crying my eyes out by the time it was over. It's like, Let me out of this thing. As you can tell by looking at the movie, it's again just an example of trying to take a franchise that once existed, with the Country Bears, and turn it into a motion-picture, which may work for some folks, but kind of freaked me out.

So if you want to take the kids to a movie this weekend, you might want to go to "Stuart Little 2." That's great entertainment for the whole family. It's good stuff.

So you got Mike Myers in "Goldmember," you got the Country Bears, "Stuart Little II," lot of movies out there, huge box office season. Summmer's going to be the biggest one ever probably. So there's lots of good stuff out there.

KAGAN: Let me just say that every self-respecting kid who went to Disneyland knew you skipped Country Bear Jamboree and you should go to Tom Sawyer Island and the Haunted Mansion.

LEATHERMAN: Absolutely, absolutely. As it should be, and as it will be going forward, I think.

KAGAN: We've been asking our viewers to e-mail us their favorite spy movie of all time. So we want to ask you what yours is.

LEATHERMAN: You know, I've never really been a big fan of the whole genre. I think the thing that brought me into it was the first Mike Myers movie, because I thought it was funny, it was kind of tongue-and-cheek, not serious. So you know, to be politically correct, I'm going to have go with the Mike Meyers movie.

KAGAN: OK, we'll stick with Austin Powers. Yeah, baby!

LEATHERMAN: Yeah, baby!

KAGAN: Thanks for stopping by. Appreciate it.

LEATHERMAN: See you next time.

KAGAN: See you next time...

LEATHERMAN: You're a sexy beast.

KAGAN: I love that. Thank you. If we miss you in the middle, we'll just give you a call on Moviefone, to hear your voice.

LEATHERMAN: Give me a buzz. I'm there for you 24 hours a day whether you need me or not.

KAGAN: Russ Leatherman, Mr. Moviefone, thanks for stopping by.

LEATHERMAN: Bye-bye.

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