An acting student has performed a dramatic rendition of a Doctor Evil monologue from 1997’s Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery for a class assignment. The Mike Myers spy spoof was a big hit, prompting two sequels and persistent rumors of Austin Powers 4.
For many fans of Myers, it’s the Austin Powers films that truly define the former SNL comedian’s best work. The films followed the exploits of Powers, a cryogenically frozen 1960’s era super spy who is forever working to foil attempts at world domination from supervillain Doctor Evil (played by Myers as well). With each successive sequel, Myers upped the ante in terms of the number of characters he played. By the time he seemed to be reaching the end of the road with the Powers franchise in 2002, Myers was already building a new franchise with Dreamworks’ animated Shrek series. In the years that followed, Myers became synonymous with Shrek, but the charm as well as some of the often bizarre humor that can be found in the Powers franchise still works today. What’s more, it appears that it can even work in a dramatic sense without much altering at all.
Acting student Lisa Gilroy has discovered this for herself after being asked by her acting teacher to perform a dramatic monologue from any film. While most of her classmates were likely choosing legitimate dramatic moments to re-enact, Gilroy decided to go a different route and took on Myers Dr. Evil monologue. The end result is pretty impressive stuff, and aside from giveaways like meat helmets and burlap sacks, anyone who isn’t familiar with Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery would hardly know that this is from a comedy. Check out the monologue below, courtesy of Gilroy’s Twitter account:
Out of all the characters that Myers plays in the franchise, Dr. Evil is the favorite of many. The character stakes a fine line between insanity and sheer cluelessness, and this is due in at least some part to having also been cryogenically frozen in the 60s and revived in (what was then) the present. Gilroy’s reworking of Dr. Evil’s monologue proves just how an actor can reinvent a script, and although her take is still funny, it all seems to come from a place of genuine trauma. Suddenly Dr. Evil’s words take on the scarred past that the film was mocking, but when done dramatically, it makes the character all the more sympathetic.
According to the comments in response to Gilroy’s monologue, some people have been contacting her wanting to donate money. It’s certainly a mark of success when strangers decide that your monologue is worthy of payment. As for whether or not the video has gotten the attention of Myers, that remains to be seen. However, if the clip’s current popularity is any indication, it might not be much longer before fans finally get another Austin Powers movie.
Source: Lisa Gilroy