Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery is a 1997 American science fiction/action-comedy film and the first film in the Austin Powers series. It was directed by Jay Roach and written by Mike Myers, who also performed the title role. Myers also plays Dr. Evil, Powers' arch-enemy. The film co-stars Elizabeth Hurley as Vanessa Kensington, Robert Wagner as Number 2, Seth Green as Scott Evil, and Michael York as Basil Exposition. Will Ferrell, Mimi Rogers, Carrie Fisher, Tom Arnold, Rob Lowe, Christian Slater, Cheri Oteri, Neil Mullarkey and Burt Bacharach made cameo appearances alongside an uncredited cameo by MADtv star Michael McDonald, among many others.
The film is a parody of the James Bond films (particularly the earlier features in the franchise) as well as other 1960s spy films.
The film, which cost US$16.5 million, opened on May 2, 1997, to positive reviews. It made a modest impact at the box office, grossing US$53 million from its North American release and about US$68 million worldwide. The film later became a hit and cult classic in the home video market and cable television, spawning two sequels, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Austin Powers in Goldmember, with a fourth film in the works.
Read more about Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery: Plot, Soundtrack, Home Video Releases, Reception
Famous quotes containing the word man:
“A man whose mind feels that it is captive would prefer to blind himself to the fact. But if he hates falsehood, he will not do so; and in that case he will have to suffer a lot. He will beat his head against the wall until he faints. He will come to again and look with terror at the wall, until one day he begins afresh to beat his head against it; and once again he will faint. And so on endlessly and without hope. One day he will wake up on the other side of the wall.”
—Simone Weil (1909–1943)