Actors and the Famous Roles That Almost Made Them Quit

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Mike Myers as ‘Wayne Campbell’, in “Wayne’s World”

Source: https://www.slashfilm.com

Wayne’s World was filmed on a fairly modest budget of just $20 million, and yet it became a critical and commercial success. The movie was the eighth-highest-grossing film of 1992 (it’s box office gross was more than $183 million), and it still is the highest-grossing film based on a Saturday Night Live skit. Mike Myers, created the character, he initially portrayed the character on a Canadian variety show. He later improved the character on Saturday Night Live with cast member Dana Carvey as Garth (sidekick).

Mike Myers had written a scene for the movie where Wayne and his friends are singing out loud Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” inside an AMC Pacer automobile. This was a tribute to Myer’s teenage years. Myers felt that the song was “inherently comedic”, he prized the idea of it since it was similar to his memories as a teen when they fought about who will get to sing the “Galileo” part of the song. Penelope Spheeris, the movie’s director, had different ideas. She insisted on using a Guns N’ Roses song instead. However, Myers demanded the use of “Bohemian Rhapsody”, he even threatened to quit the role if they went a different way. Although the movie was released on February 14, 1992, several months after the death of Freddie Mercury. Mercury was able to see the “Bohemian Rhapsody” car scene before his death. He found it hilarious and approved the use of the song for the film.

With the popularity of the movie, the “Bohemian Rhapsody” car scene eventually became iconic. Surprisingly, the use of the song in the movie pushed the song to number two on the Billboard singles charts; an astonishing 17 years after its initial release.