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secret agent
As Johnny English heads for $100m and a likely sequel, its box office success won’t change the low-profile Rowan Atkinson, reports Anwar Brett
academy profile
On screen he may be less than entirely competent in the murky field of interna- tional espionage, but at world- wide box offices it seems Johnny English can do little wrong.
Cruising towards the magic $100 million mark from UK and non-US markets alone, this ami- able buffoonery could yet prove the UK’s biggest domestically pro- duced hit.
While the reviews for the film have been distinctly mixed, the film has triumphed anyway, a fact that might be put in large part down to the appeal of its star, Rowan Atkinson.
For British audiences, thinking of the Newcastle born, 48 year old comedy actor as a global star may seem fanciful. He cer- tainly has that comfortable famil- iarity that television favourites regularly achieve, in his case through Not The Nine O’Clock News and the various incarna- tions of Blackadder.
But it is Mr Bean that has made him a household face around the world, a fact empha- sised by the huge success of his big screen outing in 1997.
So it should be no surprise that Johnny English is more Bean than Blackadder, as the film favours pratfalls and slapstick over cun- ning plans and ruthless put downs. The role actually evolved from a character that Atkinson played in a series of Barclaycard commercials, with Henry Naylor as his loyal sidekick Bough.
“They were the spur for this film,” Atkinson nods, “the starting point for the character. Those ads were mini movies in their own right, and the conceit of this dou- ble act was like Blackadder and Baldrick, Basil Fawlty and Manuel – it’s the chemistry between two
people who are fated to be together and never see to eye.” The thought arises that, with his
own background in electrical engi- neering – attending Newcastle University and Oxford in his studies – the actor might have hankered after Q’s role in the espionage genre, someone who would build the gadgets rather than destroying them. Apparently not.
“Any man worth his salt has hankered after this sort of role, in his wilder fantasies. I’m very happy to say that this is at least a partial fulfilment of a fantasy.”
The nugget of personal revela- tion is offered with a smile, but what becomes clear is that the more famous and successful Rowan Atkinson becomes the more he prefers to remain at a comfortable arm’s length from the usual trappings of ‘celebrity’. Success has allowed him to indulge his passion for fast cars, and more importantly has brought him financial security for his wife and two children.
At least one assumes it has, for the personal question – and per- sonal here can be widely inter- preted – is one he never answers. Given the relatively tame invita-
tion to comment on whether he was ever a Bond-like ladies’ man in his youth, his answer is immacu- late in both its politeness and for- bidding discretion.
“I certainly wasn’t. I had a very quiet private life until way, way late. I think you’re very rap- idly encroaching into areas of questioning which I never answer, so I can’t say. Even if I told you the whole truth I suspect that it wouldn’t be worth printing.”
In a world where celebrity seems to go hand in hand with rather unseemly bouts of self rev- elation, Atkinson seems more than happy to let his work do the talking. Whether this includes a sequel to Johnny English remains to be seen.
“I would say it’s certainly something that’s we’ve dis- cussed,” says Tim Bevan, a pro- ducer of the film and co-chair- man of Working Title Films.
“With these sort of numbers from international sales alone it’s inevitable. A sequel to revisit the character in a film that’s funnier and better. Rowan likes the character very much and if he’s up for it we’d certainly consider it. Putting
Rowan in a family film like this is like putting the Disney stamp in front of the title.”
There is, appropriately enough, a rather stiff English reserve to Rowan Atkinson in life that is at odds with his more loose-limbed comic personae. And that is perhaps reflected in a confidence in his ability to choose what comes next.
“I know I’ve got enough cre- ative curiosity to want to play somebody different,” the actor states. “A character is what inter- ests me, getting inside some- body’s skin and trying to make him real or credible.
“There’s no doubt there’s always a problem with audiences who want actors – especially comedy actors – to do one thing, and do it really well for the rest of their life. That,” he adds solemnly, “is something I don’t want to do.”
Photo: Rowan Atkinson in
Johnny English
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