New Line Panting For 'Austin Powers 4'

UPDATED: I’m told that Mike Myers has started writing Austin Powers 4 which will be an homage to his late father. “It’s very personal with a father and son theme loosely based on his own life,” an insider tells me. As Myers has previously said, this fourth installment of the super spy spoof movie series will focus on Austin’s arch-villain Dr. Evil, who was based on Blofeld of the Bond films. But what hasn’t been known is that the AP4 plot is really about Dr. Evil and his son (introduced already as Scott Evil, played by Seth Green). (NEW) Myers said this week he conceived the film’s plot during a “spiritual quest” of self-discovery to help him cope with his dad’s death in 1991 following a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. And it was during this time in his life that he said he was inspired to create the character of The Love Guru. “In many ways, The Love Guru is honouring him by dealing with his loss, because making silly movies is how I deal with things.”

Myers is penning his idea with Baby Mama‘s Mike McCullers, who collaborated with Myers on Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Austin Powers 3: Goldmember. There’s no deal in place yet but New Line is panting after No. 4 despite Myer’s recent box office bomb, The Love Guru, for Paramount. But does Myers realize he may no longer be a draw? (Probably not. Before the pic opened, he reportedly made diva demands from Conan O’Brien staffers last month for stupid stuff like Twizzlers and raspberry seltzer. Ugh.) Interestingly, I’m told that Myers had a character in the original Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery script called The Love Guru but decided not to shoot it and then wrote it out of the series. Nevertheless, when Paramount decided to make The Love Guru, it demanded that New Line sign a pledge that it had no claims to the character.