Beyoncé Made A Bold Demand To The Studio After Seeing Herself In The 'Austin Powers' Movie Poster
Back in 2002 an iconic superspy embarked on a shagadellic adventure with a badass FBI agent named Foxxy Cleopatra, played by the soon-to-be-iconic Beyoncé Knowles. To most people, Queen B stole the show, and it was obvious even back then that she had a very firm handle on her brand. Take her bold reaction to the movie’s poster — it shocked everyone at New Line Cinema, as no actress had ever made such a demand before.
Auditioning with Mike Myers
On the eve of the release of her first motion picture in 2002 Beyoncé was interviewed by Newsweek magazine. She recalled auditioning twice for her role, saying, “I read with Mike and just tried to be the straight guy. When I left, I was convinced I wasn’t going to get it.” “Mike,” of course, was comedy megastar Mike Myers and the movie was Austin Powers in Goldmember.
Beyoncé comes prepared
Fortunately, Beyoncé did get it, but she had to seriously up her game in her second audition. She said, “I went back in wearing a Pam Grier-like catsuit, an Afro wig and had memorized every blaxploitation film ever made.” This impressed Myers, and Beyoncé would only continue in the same vein, with the leading man remarking, “She came to the set prepared in every way, every day. In fact, she was overprepared.”
A Streisand-like quality
Producer John Lyons told Newsweek, “She has this Streisand-like quality, where you just know she can do anything and have this amazing career in both music and film. If she wants it.” Still, this early in her career, Beyoncé wasn’t really sure if she did want it. She said at the time, “It’s overwhelming sometimes. I’m happy, but at the same time, I’m not sure how long I want to do this.”
A constant grind
Something that gave Beyoncé pause was the 1,200-calorie-per-day diet to which she had to adhere for the movie. She said, “I like to eat and that’s a problem in this industry. I’m still probably twice as big any of the other actresses out there, and that’s a constant grind that I really hate to have to worry about.” Trust us — this won’t be the last mention of her realistic attitude toward body image.
