Ten years after his first big screen outing, Mr Bean is back. And this time the comic character has swapped his native Britain for the sunny South of France.
In the new feature length production entitled Mr Bean's Holiday, British actor Rowan Atkinson recreates the bumbling character which has made him a household name across the globe.The movie follows a debacle-packed journey - including busking for money having lost his wallet and gatecrashing the chic Cannes Film Festival - undertaken by Mr Bean after he wins a holiday in France in the church raffle.
"It's very easy for me to play Mr Bean," admits Rowan. "I love his kind of oddity. He's a child, and has that tension within his personality, between the desire to conform and to do what adults expect, and the desire to do what the hell you like. I feel that in me quite often. That sort of tussle within."
Having been created by Rowan for a one-off special in 1988, the character went on to feature in his own TV series, as a cartoon, and in a hugely successful movie which grossed £120 million at the box office.
Presenting his latest flick, the actor explains that the idea for Mr Bean was born while he was still a student at Oxford University. "Really it was the first time I had stood in front of a mirror and just looked at my face and explored it and stretched it and tweaked it, and just had fun with it," he says.
"Suddenly this character and this absurdity started to evolve, and this bizarre little five-minute sketch evolved, which was really the precursor to Mr Bean. He was just this man who came on stage in this most peculiar way. And that was it, really. That was the sketch."
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
