USA: THE NERDY BRITISH CHARACTER MR BEAN THREATENS TO TAKE OVER THE AMERICAN BOX OFFICE WITH THE US PREMIERE OF "BEAN"

Record ID: 387345

  • Title: USA: THE NERDY BRITISH CHARACTER MR BEAN THREATENS TO TAKE OVER THE AMERICAN BOX OFFICE WITH THE US PREMIERE OF "BEAN"
  • Date: 20th October 1997
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (RECENT) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) (SOUNDBITE ENGLISH) ATKINSON EXPLAINING CHANGES MADE TO CHARACTER SAYING, "THE CHARACTER NEEDED TO BE MORE COMPLEX, MORE REALISTIC. IN THE TV SHOW, HE'S A KIND OF A LIVE-ACTION CARTOON WHEREAS WE WANTED TO MAKE MORE OF A REAL MOVIE...HE'S MORE THREE- DIMENSIONAL THAN HE IS ON TV, HE'S MORE COMPLEX AND MORE REAL."
  • Embargoed: 4th November 1997 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVAASAPK9X41LXT7MS8ELHT2FBHH
  • Story Text: It's swept box offices in Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Holland, now "Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie" has been unleashed on American audiences.

    Rowan Atkinson, creator of the action-comedy, "Bean," attended the film's American premiere in New York with director Mel Smith on Monday (October 20).

    "Bean" is based on the character from Britain's wildly popular and award-winning television series "Mr Bean".

    Most Americans are expected to recognise Atkinson chiefly as the befuddled priest in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" which was also written by Richard Curtis.

    The film tells of Bean, working as a caretaker at the Royal National Gallery in London. His bosses believe him to be the worst employee possible, spending much of his time snoozing and not surprisingly, they decide to fire him.

    When the chairman of the gallery's board mysteriously intervenes on Bean's behalf, his employers are forced to find another way of getting rid of him.

    This is how he comes to be in America. They find a small L.A.

    art gallery, looking for an art expert and naturally put Bean forward as the ideal candidate.

    Bean's misadventures begin on the transatlantic flight and social embarrassments escalate at the LA gallery ending with him doing untold damage to precious artefacts.

    Bean goes on to get into worse scrapes which at times are more nerve-wracking than hilarious.

    Before "Mr Bean" could be turned into a movie, his character had to be changed to be more realistic, Atkinson explained.

    "He's a kind of live-action cartoon whereas we wanted to make more of a real movie...he's more three dimensional than he is on TV, more complex and more real", Atkinson said.

    Atkinson acknowledged he strives for perfection, but said he didn't admire this quality. "It's more a disease than a good quality," he said at the New York premiere.

    Atkinson, and his character - Mr. Bean are not cult figures in the U.S. -- as is the case in other countries where the movie has been most successful so far -- but all the indications are that audiences will take to the clumsy British character.

    The film went to Number One in Spain, is Serbia's highest grossing film ever and was the biggest success of the year in Norway.
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