Tuesday, November 4, 1997
‘Bean’ brings quirky antics, famed talent to the States
FILM Quasi-silent TV character remade to endear American
fans
By Vanessa VanderZanden
Daily Bruin Staff
He’s been compared to Charlie Chaplin and Marcel Marceau. He’s
been flooded by fans in Europe as a sort of comedic rock star. He’s
Rowan Atkinson and his character Mr. Bean is just now making its
way into movie theaters worldwide.
"If he is based on anyone, he’s based on me as a child,"
Atkinson admits with a self-conscious grin. "I could see elements
of me as a child in him all the time, as I can in most children, in
their strange sort of combination of sweetness and innocence one
moment and then completely monstrous behavior the next."
The character, who director Mel Smith ushered onto the big
screen from a highly successful television series, maintains most
of his silent physical humor.
The movie, entitled merely "Bean,"opens in America on Friday,
having already met with great success in Europe. However, in an
attempt to draw in less familiar American crowds, the story takes
place in Los Angeles.
"You know that when it’s seated in America you’ve got people at
least comfortable with things, because it’s at least taking place
in their country," Smith explains. "And, because American movies
are the most important worldwide, it’s also important for a
European audience to watch it with Americans. In terms of the
comedy…we worked to our own instincts, our own tastes, and to
what we regard as funny. Certainly, consciously, we in no way
prefigured how we were going to do it because of an American
element to it."
Yet, Smith does admit to having reshot one scene in the film for
European audiences. While the American script has Atkinson banging
into walls with a giant, uncooked turkey on his head, the European
adaptation substitutes a separate sequence, as the turkey scene too
closely resembles a TV episode which Europeans would be more aware
of. However, Atkinson remains most upset about a scene that entered
neither film version.
"I promised myself that I would keep a mini (a tiny European
car) that we used in a ‘Mr Bean’ show or movie, and this was going
to be the one that I was going to keep," Atkinson sadly relates.
"But it’s not in the movie, so I decided not to keep it."
Though the scene landed on the cutting room floor, Atkinson
became freer in other domains with this film representation. The
character, which began from various sketches in Atkinson’s early
one man comedic revue, never had the means of speech. However, once
entering the States and playing opposite an American cast which
includes Peter MacNicol and Pamela Reed, his vocal abilities
increased.
"Don’t forget, on television, nobody talks. It’s a Bean thing,"
Smith says. "Now, this is a movie, and everybody else is talking,
and if you have Bean in there, saying nothing, ever at all, I think
you’ve got a problem, because then…I think the film becomes about
the things that happen beacuse he can’t express himself."
So, by allowing Bean the occasional line, the film runs more
smoothly. Such an addition allowed Smith to manage the script more
easily, a script which he originally turned down twice. Yet, the
addition of words really had little to do with his final decision
to go forward with the project.
"(We) wanted to somehow make Bean go through something that
changed him just a little bit, just for a few minutes," Smith says.
" I mean, there’s no question that at the the end of the film, that
when he goes to sleep at the end, there shouldn’t be any doubt that
when he wakes up the next morning he’ll be the same annoying
bastard that he was before, but the fact that he goes through
something, he notices the fact that he’s screwed somebody’s life up
and tries to do something about it was a very important part of the
cocktail to me."
Bean’s character still maintains his essential mannerisms and
facial expressions which endear him to fans worldwide. Though a not
altogether likeable person, he does manage to appeal to many. The
demographics show that women between the ages of 19 and 35
particularly enjoy Atkinson’s humor. Still, Atkinson doubts he will
ever reach sex symbol status.
"I’m afraid I’ve always regarded Bean as a a completely asexual
character," Atkinson relates. "I’ve never even regarded him as a
romantic character or as a sexual character So, indeed, some of the
ways in which he amuses me is the way in which he has a completely
selfish attitude with women. It’s that his attitude is so
politically incorrect it amuses me that he regards them as a bit of
a waste of space, unless they’re good at cooking. He has a
completely motherly ideal of women."
Yet, Atkinson believes it is this motherly predisposition in
some women that draws them to the snide character. Regardless, the
actor has expressed a sort of unwillingness to re-don the role,
which he has rehashed countless times in the past 20 years, though
won’t rule out a sequel. And, Smith, though not looking to create a
second Bean movie, would probably enjoy working with the unusual
comedic talent again.
"It’s Rowan’s bag, Rowan’s baby," Smith notes, "but I had to
keep giving Rowan another idea about how he might come at
something…You know, Rowan’s such a great performer, that it’s
very easy to sit back and say, ‘Great, marvelous, done,’ but you
haven’t really tested the water…You throw another thing into the
mix, and so now Rowan’s got another sort of piece of something to
work with and just colors it slightly differently."
Utilizing the advice of Smith and moving through one slapstick
sequence after another, Atkinson provides a large presence in the
film. Yet, the brand of physical comedy which Bean demands remains
a rare form, which most recalls the talents of silver screen
favorites like Laurel and Hardy and Buster Keaton. With the ability
to bring this fading humor back from the grave, Atkinson has
succeeded in honoring the timeless silent, or quasi-silent,
tradition of performers.
"You can see that they tend to be loners," Atkinson says. "They
tend not to be married with three kids. They tend to be lonesome
people who tend to be kind of immature or naive in some way. They
tend to be social outcasts, to be vindictive and cruel when they
want to be, and I think all these you can see in most visual comedy
characters, including Mr. Bean."
FILM: "Bean" opens Friday.