Austin Powers may just be one of the most profitable spoof franchises ever created. Its loving, satirical, and often ridiculous homages to the James Bond franchise are without a doubt one of the main reasons so many adore the late 1990s and early 2000s films. But the cast is also the draw. Of course, Mike Myers is the heart and soul of the Austin Powers films, but the women starring opposite him help define each of the three installments. Perhaps no more so than Beyonce's work in the third and potentially final Powers movie, Goldmember.
When Austin Powers In Goldmember first came out in 2002, Beyonce was at the beginning of her career. While she was the lead singer in Destiny's Child, she simply wasn't the humungous star that she is today. She hadn't gone solo. She hadn't sung her biggest hits. And she certainly hadn't been in a movie before. For all those reasons and more, the spy spoof film was one of the most important moments in her career.
6 Why Beyonce Was Cast In Austin Powers In Goldmember
When director Jay Roach and his team, including producer John Lyons, set out to make Austin Powers in Goldmember, they were certain that they wanted a Black actor to co-star with Mike Myers. At the time, Beyonce was simply not the star that she is today. She was the lead singer of Destiny's Child and just coming out of her shell. This is something a few agents noticed, including Sharon Sheinwold Jackson, who recommended Beyonce to the team.
"We sat down with Beyoncé and her mom on the rooftop patio outside of Mike Myers’s room at the Chateau Marmont and talked about the possibilities for the character," Jay Roach said during an interview with Vulture. "Her mom was very much into blaxploitation movies. She could tell that was the DNA for Foxxy. Her mom was so cool and so helpful and instantly had ideas for us. Beyoncé and Mike hit it off like crazy. Instantly I could tell there was chemistry with them. I do remember one other person that we considered for it, but Mike designed the character for Beyoncé."
5 Getting Cast In Austin Powers Was Important To Beyonce's Career
While Beyonce's mom, Tina Knowles-Lawson, wouldn't confirm the story with Vulture, producer John Lyons claimed that she stood by her daughter's side throughout the casting process. According to him, she was there to make sure her daughter wasn't getting taken advantage of. She, like Beyonce, knew this was a potentially groundbreaking moment for her career.
"This was an important moment in her career, a real turning point, going from the front woman of a successful pop band to a first solo effort," Matthew Rolston, the director of the "Work It Out" music video, said to Vulture. "It had been carefully constructed by her mom and dad to be her debut as an actress and a solo pop act at the same time."
4 Pam Grier Influenced Foxxy Cleopatra
While Mike Myers almost certainly designed the character of Foxxy Cleopatra after Beyonce following their meeting, the character herself was very much influenced by the 1960s and the era of blaxploitation star Pam Grier.
"When you start with a name like Foxxy Cleopatra, you can’t help but reference Pam Grier and that era," Deena Appel, the films costume designer said. "Goldmember was supposed to be set in ’75, but there were still a lot of ’60s aesthetics."
The fact that Pam Grier was one of the main influences on the character was very appealing to Beyonce who had a personal connection to her.
"My mom loved Pam Grier. She loved Foxy Brown," Beyonce said in an interview with BBC back in 2002. "I got a chance to meet her when I was 15 at the Source Awards. Before the movie, I watched every one of her films I could find. At the reading with Mike, I wouldn’t talk unless I was talking like her. She helped me tremendously. She’s who I based everything on."
3 Mike Myers Helped Beyonce Get Over Her Nerves
Destiny's Child was still promoting their album "Survivor" while Beyonce was filming Goldmember. Her music was still being managed by her father, and she simply didn't have the independence she has today. But, as she said herself, acting was a new opportunity to discover who she was as a solo artist. But she was nervous.
"When she went to do the first scenes, she was great at it, but you could see that acting was not her first forte," stunt coordinator, Jack Gill, explained. "She was a little nervous with it. Mike really tried to help her out with that. He would come in and joke around with her and get her more comfortable. She was having a hard time with a lot of the dialogue — not that she couldn’t remember it, but she kept feeling that her delivery was not up to par."
"I was very nervous," Beyonce said to BBC. "I didn’t really know what I was doing. I was just grateful to get the opportunity … I felt like it was a new chapter of my life, a new way to grow as an artist."
2 How Beyonce Inspired Mike Myers
Mike Myers seemed not to have the same level of excitement to do the third Austin Powers movie as he did the first. But Beyonce's presence changed all of that.
"Her excitement for what she was doing was so contagious," director Jay Roach explained. "It really helped Mike to keep going. It’s hard with sequels to make sure everything stays fresh.
1 What Beyonce Was Really Like On The Set Of Austin Powers In Goldmember
"What Beyoncé contributed to Goldmember is so huge," Jay Roach said. "Its lasting presence is very much due to her involvement, and the fact that she’s become this mega-mega-megastar can’t hurt."
Of course, Beyonce wasn't the "megastar" she is today and she almost definitely didn't possess any diva-like traits on set.
"It was in retrospect that I realized I’d been face-to-face with this humongous new star, and I relish being in the afterglow," Michael York, who played Basil Exposition, explained to Vulture. "She was so approachable and normal. I remember being rather full of admiration because she’d been out all night doing some concert and came straight to the set with all the energy in the world."
