Mike Myers Says This Iconic Scene in Wayne’s World Almost Didn’t Happen

Mike Myers is revisiting Wayne’s World.

The actor, who played the titular character Wayne Campbell in the two hit ’90s comedy movies and recurring SNL sketch, spoke to Vulture on Wednesday, Dec. 4 as the outlet named him a “Master of Culture.”

Myers, now 61, recalled how his Wayne’s World character was inspired by his own life at the time. The first versions of Wayne reflected his “punk rock” era, he said, and his willingness to experiment.

“One of the things about starting out in show business up in Canada is there’s no money in it, which is kind of great because in a weird way it makes you experiment more,” he said.

He added that Canada was a place to grow and “get your 10,000 hours.”

With Wayne’s World 2, Myers’ experience with the character deepened, and he wanted to add more dimension to the quirky, long-haired protagonist.

“I wanted the character to have knowledge you wouldn’t expect he might have,” Myers said.

Myers was a smart kid growing up, but the “eggheads” weren’t as fun as the “party animals,” so he hung out with the more entertaining crowd, he continued. Myers tried to recreate that dynamic in Wayne, he said — that looks can be deceiving.

While building Wayne’s character — who hangs with his dim-witted buddy Garth Algar (Dana Carvey) — Myers also referred to his “comedy heroes,” he said. Peter Sellers, he explained, fully “committed” to his roles and made no distinction between his dramatic and comedic roles. He also cited fellow Canadian-born actor and SNL star, the late Phil Hartman, as inspiration.

Myers recalled the iconic scene where Wayne drives through Aurora, Ill., with his friends, blasting “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen. The scene almost looked very different, he said — the first script had chosen Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love,” and the studio wanted something from Guns N’ Roses.

“Bohemian Rhapsody” made the cut for its “strange operatic quality,” Myers said.

“Everybody was assigned a ‘Galileo,'” he said. “That was the big thing, and we had fights if you took my ‘Galileo.'”

Myers didn’t want a Wayne’s World sequel, he revealed. With Austin Powers, each film built on the last, he explained, and there was a specific reason for each new movie — a quality he didn’t really see in Wayne’s World.

In Myers’s mind, the sequel had a very different plot: that Aurora never actually agreed to be a part of the United States and becomes its own “heavy-metal state.”

“Wayne wants to put on a rock show, the local elders don’t want to,” Myers said of his plot idea, “and Wayne goes, ‘Too bad, we are the Kingdom of Waynedavia.’ The first heavy-metal state.”