Bean star to reprise spoof 007 role
Mr Bean is turning into Mr Bond as Rowan Atkinson dons a tuxedo to play a super-spy.
But with his usual comic gift Atkinson turns his new character Johnny English into a bumbling secret agent.
The accident prone character first saw life in a hit series of Barclaycard ads in which he haplessly roamed the world accompanied by sidekick Bough.
Now he has been reinvented as a gun-toting hero – albeit rather hapless – who is sent by the intelligence service MI7 to rescue the Crown Jewels from villainous Frenchman Pascal Sauvage, played by John Malkovich.
Bough is back, this time played by comic actor Ben Miller – from TV’s Armstrong And Miller and the movie The Parole Officer.
Love interest is provided by Aussie soap-turned-pop star Natalie Imbruglia in her first major movie role.
It is not the first time that the Bond series have been parodied, with Mike Myers making a fortune through his Austin Powers films.
And it is not the first time that Atkinson himself has had a brush with Bond. He appeared in the Sean Connery comeback vehicle Never Say Never Again in 1983 as a man from the ministry sent to track down 007.
Since then Atkinson – who turned 48 yesterday – has found international fame in the movie Bean, featuring his celebrated buffoon Mr Bean.
Johnny English has been scripted by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade who were behind the most recent Bond film, Die Another Day, and directed by Peter Howitt, who made low budget hit Sliding Doors.
It hits cinemas on April 11.
