'He could get grumpy': 'Wayne's World' director Penelope Spheeris' open up on the clash with Mike Myers that cost her the sequel
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Penelope Spheeris, 77, recently opened up about her rumored clashes with Mike Myers, 60, and Lorne Michaels, 78, on the set of their 1992 film ‘Wayne’s World,’ where the Spheeris served as the director, while Myers and Michaels served as the writer and producer respectively. Spheeris explained that the trio did not have any issues on the set but had a disagreement after the filming wrapped and the movie was screened for test audiences.
“It was not an uncomfortable set,” Spheeris told The Hollywood Reporter’s podcast ‘It Happened in Hollywood.’ “Mike is hypoglycemic, so if he got low-blood sugar he could get grumpy. So big deal. I worked with Richard Pryor and Albert Brooks. They’ll cause you a heart attack,” she added. Spheeris revealed that Myers missed the early screenings of the film as his father died and the actor had to return to Canada for the funeral. However, when he watched the film alone, Myers allegedly wrote 11 pages of notes “single-spaced on a legal pad,” with the majority of them being suggestions for cuts.
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‘Most of them sucked’
Speaking of the reaction from the test screenings, Spheeris recalled, “I got great audience reaction in the testing setting. That’s when the c**p hit the fan.” She mentioned how Myers missed the screenings and later provided suggestions for cuts based on his own review. “He wasn’t there to witness the incredible audience reaction and look at the test cards and realize that we had something on our hands,” Spheeris said. The director also remembered Myers’ suggestions and said, “Most of them sucked.”
Spheeris said one of the scenes Myers wanted to cut included Lara Flynn Boyle, who played an ex-girlfriend still pining for his character Wayne, crashing her bike into a car. “Mike didn’t want it in there because she was getting the laugh, not him. That’s the way Lorne teaches his players — to always one-up one another,” she claimed. The director revealed Myers even doubted the iconic sequence in the film which showed Wayne, Garth (Dana Carvey), and their friends lip-syncing to Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ in the 1976 AMC Pacer referred to as the 'Mirthmobile.'
“They hated doing it,” Spheeris recalled. “They hated banging their head in the car. It hurt. [Metallica’s] James Hetfield, all those headbangers, they’re used to it. These guys weren’t used to doing that. They didn’t have the muscles in their neck and it started hurting real bad. They started asking for Advil on the set,” she said. “The worst part is Mike said not only does it hurt, it’s not funny,” the director added.
‘I got canned’
Spheeris shared that she strongly opposed Myers’ suggestions and told producer Michaels and Paramount executives that the film’s creative and comedy aspects would largely suffer if she executed the changes requested by Myers. “Lorne took me aside and said, ‘Penelope, if you don’t change the movie, you won’t be able to direct Wayne’s World 2. Mike’s not going to approve you,’” she revealed, recalling her interaction with the producer.
“‘We really want to do Wayne’s World 2 with Mike. We’re not going to tell him you won’t change it — you have to tell him,’” Paramount executives allegedly told Spheeris. “And Lorne said, ‘I’m not telling him, you tell him.’ So I told him. And I got canned,” Spheeris shared. While Spheeris agreed to a handful of changes suggested by Myers, she mostly kept her own vision intact.
At the time ‘Wayne’s World’ grossed $183 million worldwide, which is $400 million in 2023, as per the publication. A sequel to the film went into production later that year but Spheeris was replaced by Canadian director Stephen Surjik. She said she “pulled her phone out of the wall,” “cried for two weeks,” and then “got over it” after receiving the news. ‘Wayne’s World 2’ grossed $48 million worldwide, which is $102 million today. Spheeris said she and Michaels never spoke again after she turned down directing 2000’s ‘The Ladies Man’ despite having known each other and collaborating since 1976 on the first season of SNL.