In 1997, Mike Myers starred in his first drama. As soon as he opened his mouth, his co-star chased him off the set
Mike Myers’s attempt to move from comedy into drama stumbled during the little-seen film *Pete’s Meteor*, where his Irish accent drew an immediate rebuke from co-star Ian Costello. The episode illustrates how Myers’s first dramatic roles in the late 1990s struggled to gain traction, and how this film was delayed and then largely disappeared from view.
Myers said he had worked with a dialect coach but chose a general Irish lilt rather than a Dublin accent. When he performed his first scene, Costello chased him off the set, delaying their scenes until Myers’s accent was considered semi-acceptable. Filmed between October 1997 and January 1998, *Pete’s Meteor* screened at the 1999 Berlin Film Festival but was not released in cinemas and reached home video in December 2002.
In short
- Myers’s Irish accent was criticised by co-star Ian Costello.
- The incident delayed their scenes on *Pete’s Meteor*.
- The film did not reach home video until 2002.
Explained simply
Mike Myers was best known for comedy roles, including the characters he played in the Austin Powers films. In the late 1990s he also tried dramatic acting, taking a role in Pete’s Meteor, a film about a group of children in Dublin.
The film was directed by Joe O’Byrne, and Myers played a Canadian whose Irish accent was meant to fit the story. His co-star Ian Costello objected to the accent during filming, which delayed their scenes while Myers worked on it with a dialect coach.
Pete’s Meteor was filmed across 1997 and 1998 and shown at the Berlin Film Festival in 1999. It did not get a cinema release and only became available on home video in 2002, making it a little-seen part of Myers’s move into drama.