Screenshot via YouTube
Because we apparently haven't suffered enough in 2018, it looks like Austin Powers might be crawling out of his grave for a return to the big screen "soon," Mike Myers told Access Online in a red carpet interview.Asked if we might be getting a fourth film in the franchise, the writer and actor behind it said "it's looking good," which, you know, is one person's opinion."You're gonna see Dr. Evil soon, somewhere in the culture," he added.Rumors about a follow up have been floating around since director Jay Roach told Larry King that he and Myers "talk about it every time [they] get together" back in 2016. "I would say it's in a latent phase right now," Roach said at the time, "but someday if we find the right idea that seems to have it earn itself, for sure."Aside from the fact that Austin Powers is problematic as hell, there have been plenty of obstacles to a fourth film, not the least of which is the death of actor Verne Troyer, who famously portrayed Mini-Me in the movies before he passed away in April. For his part, Myers attributed his British spy's 16-year absence to the fact that he's been spending his time raising three kids. He also told Access Online that the films "take a long time to write," and "always have." But the effort paid off in the late 90s and early 2000s: Between International Man of Mystery, The Spy Who Shagged Me, and Goldmember, the series raked in nearly $600 million at the box office.It's hard to imagine that the juvenile, sex-obsessed, generally offensive Powers would go over well in 2018. Rewatching the movies is pretty painful: Looking back, what once came off as playful and raunchy kind of just seems misogynistic and racist. If they really plan to retrofit the shagadelic man of mystery into something post-#MeToo audiences won't hate, Myers and Roach have a hell of a challenge in front of them.Sign up for our newsletter to get the best of VICE delivered to your inbox daily.Follow Beckett Mufson on Twitter and Instagram.
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