Q&A with Mike Myers

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Mike Myers is sitting in the corner of a suite atop the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, sipping on a cup of English tea, wearing a black Beatles shirt. The usually gregarious Myers is soft-spoken as he talks about the inspiration for latest film, The Love Guru, which opens this Friday.

"It's about enlightenment through lightening up, which is what my father used to say," says Myers, whose father passed away in 1991. "It was hard to come to terms with his death, but I began reading spiritual and philosophical books and Deepak Chopra and that's where the Guru Pitka character comes from."

Myers thinks about his father every time he watches the Toronto Maple Leafs, the team his dad fell in love with when he moved to Toronto from Liverpool in 1956. While the Leafs haven't won the Stanley Cup in 41 years, Myers was able to finally see them win it in his movie.

"I bleed blue," he said. "So if I don't see them win in my lifetime, I could at least write it in that Field of Dreams way. If you write it, it will come."

I recently sat down with Myers to discuss the curse hanging over the Leafs, the CBC discarding the Hockey Night in Canada theme song and who he'd want to take on in the penalty box à la Tie Domi.

SI: How did you go about casting this film?

Myers: Well, with Jessica Alba, we had mutual friends. She's beautiful, lovely, hilarious, a great actress and so down-to-earth, and hockey needs that. Hockey is a down-to-earth sport.

I met Justin Timberlake somewhere in Europe after the second Shrek. We were at this party and started doing comedy bits. Everyone had gone home and we're still doing comedy bits. I kept thinking, this guy is hilarious. I had kept it in the back of my mind to write something for him. I've been thinking about this for years.

With Verne Troyer, Jay Roach, the director of Austin Powers, had cast Verne as Mini Me. The first day, I'm talking to him on set and I thought, "Why did I make Mini Me not talk?" If I had known he was so funny I would have.

Del Close, one of the founding members of Second City, who was a great teacher, said that making things is a transformative process. Verne Troyer is hilarious and he has a great sharp take on stuff, so when it was time to pick a coach, I said, "Verne."

I had seen Romany Malco on Weeds and I just smile when I see him. I just think he's lovable and vulnerable. He was great. And Ben Kingsley, I heard through a mutual friend that he had a great sense of humor, so I sent him the script and he said, "I totally understand the tone of this movie. I get that it's a silly fun movie that's a delivery system for a nice message." It was awesome.

It was the same with Austin Powers. I sent a script out to Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise, Kevin Spacey, Danny DeVito, John Travolta and Gwyneth Paltrow and they all said yes and all arrived on the same day. It was an embarrassment of riches. I'm very lucky. I've been doing this for a while now, and when I was kid in Toronto, I didn't think I would necessarily get a job. Now I'm so grateful for how well it's gone. I literally have out-of-body experiences. Like at the premiere, I was like, what is this, how did I get here?

SI: In the movie, you have the Toronto Maple Leafs go through a fictional "Bullard Curse," having gone 40 years without a Stanley Cup win. That sounds awfully familiar.