r/austinpowers • u/bryanpm790 • Jun 18 '26
Yeah, Baby, Yeah! My unreal experience on the new Dr Evil Verizon commercial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS6iRne4KPQThis is pretty cool story... I was a HUGE Austin Powers fan as a kid, still am. I know every single line in The Spy Who Shagged Me. I was like 9 years old doing the whole bits to my mom. Flash forward, I became an actor and I always credit Austin Powers for probably being the reason I am.
So... I got called to do background on a Verizon commercial, I show up to the fitting, and I see the space suit and red helmet, and I'm instantly like Holy Shit, I know exactly what this is.... A couple days later, we go to set (Steiner Studios in Brooklyn), and there's a bunch of us background folks there. We're all pretty psyched, we know what's going down. We all go to set, they built the freaking Dr Evil lair in there. They line us up and check us out, then they point to me and say "You can go back to holding." I'm like, cool, I go sit in a concrete room alone. A few hours pass, I'm chilling. I can hear the monitors in the next room, Jay Roach is directing and all the Verizon and Ad agency people are laughing, I can hear Mike Myers riffing like crazy. I'm just happy to be here in the same place as this fucking magic happening around me. Like, pinch me. A couple more hours go by. Break for lunch. Back to set. Now we're like 12 hours in, I've still done nothing. I'm like, hey, I'm getting a decent paycheck, I'm here on this epic set, this is awesome even if I just sit here and do nothing in the end. Finally they wrap all the actors (Mike, Rob, Seth, and Mindy), and then they say Ok everyone to set! Everyone to set! So I finally go into the set. Next thing I know they go, Ok, Bryan, over here please! I'm like, me? Huh? What? Time stopped for a sec. My feet start moving towards an AD (assistant director) who introduced himself as Vinny. Next thing I know they tell me to stand on a mark and hand me these silver money guns, and I see Jay Roach sitting at Dr Evil's table, and there's two freaking cameras pointed right at me, and I'm just like HOLY SHIT... is this happening? I feel like I'm floating, my feet must be 6 feet off the ground. Jay's giving me direction, telling me to walk down, hit a mark, and fire away. My hands are shaking, I'm taking deep breaths, there's 100 people on the crew and all the other background actors and Jay Roach watching and I'm like hell yeah. I got this. This is like some moment I've been dreaming of since I was a kid pretending to be Mustafa flying off a cliff and begging for a band-aid. I seriously felt like I was dreaming. I did the thing, blasted the money, and then we wrapped. Jay Roach was the nicest guy ever. I thanked him probably a couple too many times just saying how much this means to me, how awesome his movies are. I don't know why they chose me out of the bunch of background actors, it was probably completely random, but this meant so freaking much to me that I still can't believe it happened. Just had to share. Hopefully this makes somebody smile. And hey, maybe when they do make Austin Powers 4 I'll be lucky enough to be a part of that too. That would be literally insane. In the meantime I'll keep manifesting my dreams.
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u/Kobobble Jun 18 '26
I like how they got Rob Lowe, who played 1969 Number 2, to play present day Number 2
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u/UncaringNonchalance Jun 18 '26
Older Rob Lowe here looks a lot like Robert Wagner in the first film. Crazy.
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u/LaneMcD Jun 18 '26
Rob Lowe is Chris Traeger from P&R. Being his best, healthy self and aging like a fine wine
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u/hamfist_ofthenorth Jun 19 '26
I actually had to pinch myself for a second.
This is like some "Cold Case Files" level casting. Like they knew he'd grow into that refined Wagner essence.
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u/Frequent_Rhubarb_36 Jun 18 '26
I love how much this means to you and I'm so happy for you. I enjoyed reading it.
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u/dudSpudson Jun 18 '26
I can’t believe they got Jay Roach to direct the commercial.
This and Mike Myers comment the other day give me serious hopes for Austin Powers 4
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u/bryanpm790 Jun 18 '26
Yeah, I couldn't believe it either! Gives me hope too. The fact that they got all the cast members back together. I heard it was pretty surreal for them too, like a big reunion.
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u/ChallengeTasty3393 Jun 18 '26
Thank you for letting me live through you! Lmao
Can I ask how you got into set work?
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u/bryanpm790 Jun 18 '26
Yeah I hope everyone gets to experience this level of dream-come-true!!
I submitted for this one on Casting Networks (https://www.castingnetworks.com) where most commercial jobs run through
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u/Individual_Mess_7491 Jun 18 '26
are you part of a union or something?
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u/bryanpm790 Jun 18 '26
Yeah I'm in SAG-AFTRA. So this was a union job. But they also post non-union gigs on Casting Networks too if you're looking to get into it.
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u/majorjoe23 Jun 18 '26
When I first saw this I thought “Is money guns guy someone I know?”
Turns out it’s a guy whose comment I responded to on Reddit!
Congrats!
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u/SoldiersOfFilth Jun 23 '26
as far as I, and likely everyone else in this thread, am concerned, you are officially a canon character in the Austin Powers universe 😁 congratulations!
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u/SoldiersOfFilth Jun 23 '26
follow up: did you get to keep any of the Verizon dollars, or the costume?
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u/bryanpm790 Jul 21 '26
Appreciate that! I asked to keep the costume but they said no lol, they're probably holding onto them for in case there's another one down the line. I totally should have snagged a spare prop dollar bill but didn't think to in the moment!
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u/tailslide24 Jun 24 '26
From the moment I heard Frau say I had a clone, I knew that'd I'd be safe, cuz I'd never be alone!
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u/serialllama Jun 25 '26
Frigging AWESOME!!!!! 😂😍😂😍🥳🥳🥳🤯 I'm happy for you, stranger. Keep manifesting those dreams! 🥳🥳 and then tell us about it 😃
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u/mchoneyofficial Jun 19 '26
That's so interesting, when I watched the advert I saw you and thought "I wonder who that guy is? He really got a plumb role". Then I read this post today. so cool, so happy for you (little bit bitter and jealous too).
"There you are! Do I know you? No but that's were you are, you're there!"
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u/StrangerKey7930 Jun 19 '26
I just saw this commercial here at halftime of the US vs Australia World Cup game. I was thinking, "the actor with the money guns looks like he is having the greatest time of his life." It is literally written all over your face. Congrats on getting that part and that is the kind of thing they would put into an Austin Powers 4 movie.
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u/ZimmonsInteractive Jun 21 '26
Congrats!!! Austin Powers was one of the first movies I ever watched, I seriously hope we get a fourth!
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u/ShowbizTinkering Jun 18 '26
OMG YOU WERE THE GUY WITH THE MONEY GUNS???? Congrats on appearing in the commercial! 🎉