Rowan Atkinson is a free agent

Rowan Atkinson in Johnny English: Reborn. Photo / Supplied

As he returns as hopeless spy Johnny English, Rowan Atkinson talks to Russell Baillie about laziness, cars and not wanting to be a has-Bean.

Of the many characters Rowan Atkinson has played in his 30 years on screen, Johnny English was one he did for money.

Well, the Bond-parody character did start life in a series of British credit card ads in the late 80s and early 90s. Atkinson's English made the belated leap to the big screen in 2003 in a movie that did a tidy amount at the international box office - though his two Mr Bean movies are bigger earners. Now there's a sequel, Johnny English Reborn.

So was there a demand for another Johnny English movie?
Yes, there was a demand but there was a demand eight years ago - it feels like a commercially suicidal long time to leave between a first film and a second film. But it was partly laziness on my part and partly I got distracted by other things, like a Mr Bean movie, and then I went into a musical in the West End. I played Fagin in a revival of Oliver two years ago and that sort of put if off for another year, and eventually we got round to it.

Lazy? Are you really?
Yeah, but I think lazy is kind of the wrong word. I'm very keen not to spend my entire life on showbusiness. So when I work I work extremely hard, particularly with movies, as unfortunately I am the sort of control freak who likes to be on the very first script meeting and in on the very last sound mix four years later. So it means it's very, very time-consuming for me. Unlike most actors I don't turn up for seven weeks do the role then go and make another movie. Once I have had those intense periods of work I stop completely for a whole year or six months and I do absolutely nothing but relax and do hobbies and try and do some motor racing or the things I can do. I am someone who likes only one ball in the air at once.

Does the motor racing relate to that control freakery?
I don't think so. It's not the kind of thing that control freaks necessarily do. There may be a bit of that in it but I'm not very good at it and I like to be safe. I try to get better at it. It's a skill which you can acquire and improve upon. It's like anything - like tennis.

You drive two very notable vehicles in the movie - a high speed wheelchair and the Rolls Royce.
It was my idea to have a car chase which basically had a wheelchair as one of the cars, because it's always nice to have a car chase but you don't want a straight car chase, it's got to have jokes in it. I thought it was inherently quite funny to have a high-powered wheelchair. But the problem was the Universal Pictures insurance people were absolutely paranoid about my doing anything in this wheelchair because it was a genuinely fast thing. It does 40mph and 40mph in a wheelchair does feel very fast, so it's potential to tip over is very, very great. But that was me, for most of the time anyway, doing 40mph down The Mall in front of Buckingham Palace. It was a lot of fun.

And the Roller?
I felt the Aston Martin thing had been quite overdone so I fancied doing something a bit different and I'd grown to love the Rolls Royce Phantom myself and I thought, we'll try and get a two-door version of that. I managed to persuade Rolls Royce to dig out this ludicrous engine, this nine-litre V16 and it worked. It's a real car and it really goes and it is unbelievably quick, but it's a one-off experimental thing. But it's a genuine delight.

A ridiculous car for a ridiculous movie.
Yes, it is.

Talking of Aston Martins, there have been Bond parodies since there have been Bond movies. Was it a problem trying to find something new in it all?
The odd thing is what we've ended up with, particularly in the second Johnny English film is not so much a parody really. Occasionally it's parodic but it's not really making jokes about the genre so much. It's just setting jokes in the genre because the genre is such fun. It's glamorous and silly and big - the world of James Bond was almost a parody from day one, to a certain extent, in that it was a gross exaggeration and glamorising of a profession that is really rather dour and workaday for most of the time. All we have done is used the context. We had all sorts of ideas about using the Bourne films but we never pursued them in the end because comedy needs more air and oxygen than that sort of film-making style can ever give you.

You talked about always wanting to improve your race-driving skills. How about your comedic ones?
Blimey. I don't know whether you get better at it or you just repeat. I suppose the key is to try to not get too cynical about it. It's easy to feel you've seen it all and done it all and "oh that joke again" because there are only six jokes in the world and in the end all you are doing is reformatting them for your latest work. But you don't want that to generate cynicism and apathy.

That's interesting, because your early career in Not The Nine O'Clock News was powered by cynicism and sarcasm, whereas Mr Bean and even Johnny English are simpler, sillier and more childish.
Yes, there is something more compassionate about them. The characters are more sympathetic, not necessarily nicer. I don't think Mr Bean is a very nice person at all. I find him really irritating. Amusing to play and amusing to watch, but you would never want him round for dinner. Whereas Johnny English is basically a nicer person and better intentioned. Even though he is a bit of a clot, he does try.

And you've said "no more Bean for me".
I think it's unlikely. I am getting a bit old for it, to be honest. Not too old in terms of being able to play the part or have the attitude but I have always regarded Mr Bean as a live action cartoon character and he's an ageless, timeless sort of person. I thought as soon as he starts looking a bit middle aged or older ... I thought we got away with it in the last movie, Mr Bean's Holiday, but I am not sure we could get away with it again. I prefer to remember him as he was.

He must be quite hard work physically.
Yes, it is. Physically I'm fine but it's about attitude. It's a challenge for comedians generally but as you get older you start to lose - for reasons that are very difficult to define - your comic authority. As soon as you get over 40 and 50 in particular, people start to believe in you less.

LOWDOWN
Who: Rowan Atkinson
What: Johnny English Reborn, the sequel to his 2003 Bond parody, Johnny English.
When: At cinemas now
Also: Atkinson, a sometime racing driver, is the reigning champ of Top Gear's "star in a reasonably priced car" segment.

-TimeOut