Last spring, word went out about a Mike Myers project that would have the notorious ham playing an Indian self—help guru named Pitka who spouted all sorts of wackiness as advice. The character originated during the making of the second Austin Powers movie, and Myers has kept it on the backburner ever since, doing stage shows in character here and there to fine tune it. I can’t imagine there being that much to it, though. Do a “funny” accent, pepper your “advice” with toilet humor, and repeat if desired. There. Now I’m a top-shelf comic genius too.
The film’s kind of been in drydock as Myers and Paramount sought somebody with the cinematic vision to be able to tell camera operators to keep rolling as Myers improvised take after take. Tricky stuff, that. The search for that most rare of individuals is now over as Marco Schnabel has stepped in the director’s chair. While he’s got a thin resume as of yet, he’s got a long running association with Myers as he crewed on the first two Austin Powers movies and stepped up as second unit director for the last one.
Paramount’s looking for this to be a major release for 2008, and there’s little reason to doubt that it will be. Myers is one of the safest comedy bets around these days, and he stays out of the public eye enough between films to make sure people don’t get sick of him. And as long as there are accents left for him to try, we’ll be seeing more of these types of flicks. Take it and like it. Or not.