Austin Powers cast reunites for General Motors’ Super Bowl commercial

Oh, behave! Mike Myers and the cast of hit spy spoof film series Austin Powers have reunited for a Super Bowl commercial sure to get fan firing on all cylinders. The 60-second spot for General Motors reveals that Myers’ supervillain Dr Evil has taken over the car manufacturer’s headquarters and is plotting world domination. With a little help from Mindy Sterling’s Teutonic hench-woman Frau Farbissina, he realises that to take over the planet, he first needs to save it from the climate crisis. The advertisement promoting GM’s growing fleet of electric vehicles will air during Super Bowl LVI on Monday and revolves around the famous feuding father-and-son relationship of Dr Evil and his progeny Scott Evil, who has also become a dad. “Now, we can reduce tailpipe emissions,” says Scott, played by Seth Green, “for my son.” Cue a sting of dramatic music as Dr Evil declares: “I shall name him Baby Me.” “No, his name is Kyle,” Scott replies. The commercial reunites the cast for the first time since 2002, when the third and seemingly final instalment, Austin Powers in Goldmember, hit cinemas following Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery in 1997 and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me in 1999. The three films have a combined worldwide box office of close to $950 million. Original cast members Myers, Sterling and Green are joined by Rob Lowe, who played a young Number 2 in the second and third films after making an uncredited cameo in the first instalment as a “decapitated henchman’s friend”. Robert Wagner, who is now 92, played the role of Number 2 in the three movies. “It really does feel like the band that has been playing together for 30 years,” Green told Variety. “Austin Powers is still one of the most globally recognised things I’ve done. There is a fan base for it.” General Motors global chief marketing officer Deborah Wahl said the car manufacturer had cast climate change as the enemy for their latest Super Bowl spot. She added that the company hoped to appeal to the “large majority of first movers (to electric vehicles) and the younger population”. “This is very much in line with their purpose and their vision, and they are very concerned about climate change,” Ms Wahl said. While four of the beloved characters from the movies feature in the commercial, there is no sign of the titular International Man of Mystery himself. Green said that Myers, who revived his Wayne’s World characters in an Uber Eats commercial for last year’s Super Bowl, took a “very first-hand, personal interest in shaping the script” so it stayed true to characters. Ms Wahl said the Super Bowl was the “top platform” to reach big audiences but time during the game also comes with a big price tag. Broadcaster NBC charges upwards of $8 million for 30 seconds of airtime. The GM commercial is dubbed Dr EV-il (as in, Electric Vehicles). Last year the company enlisted comic actor Will Ferrell for a typically amusing Super Bowl commercial also promoting their green credentials.