Mike Myers’ Unmade Scooby-Doo Dream: The Role That Got Away
Mike Myers was once set to play Shaggy and co-write a live-action Scooby-Doo film, but the project slipped through his fingers, leaving a childhood ambition unfulfilled.
Mike Myers has never been the busiest bloke in Hollywood, but when he did take on a project, it was usually something he’d mulled over for ages. His films have always been a bit of a mixed bag, and he’s known for being pretty choosy about what he signs up for. Sometimes, that careful approach didn’t exactly work in his favour. Wayne’s World, for example, was a real labour of love, though it came with its fair share of headaches behind the scenes—many of them thanks to Myers himself. The same could be said for So I Married an Axe Murderer. On the other hand, the Austin Powers series mostly went off without a hitch. But then there was The Cat in the Hat, which didn’t do his reputation any favours, and The Love Guru, which nearly wiped it out altogether.
Between 1993 and 2008, if you leave out Wayne’s World, Austin Powers, and Shrek, Myers only popped up in seven films. He spent heaps of time in between working on projects that never saw the light of day. There was a full-length Saturday Night Live spin-off called Dieter, a Keith Moon biopic, a new version of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (which Ben Stiller eventually took on), an early go at Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and even a shot at playing Inspector Clouseau in a Pink Panther reboot—though that gig ended up going to Steve Martin.
The One That Meant the Most
Out of all the projects that slipped through his fingers, the one Myers cared about most was, surprisingly, Scooby-Doo. Back in the winter of 1998, word got out that Myers was set to play Shaggy in a live-action take on the classic cartoon, and he’d be co-writing the script with Jay Kogan. For Myers, this was more than just another job—it was something he’d wanted since he was a kid. He was dead keen to make it happen.
“I don’t know what’s happening on Scooby-Doo,”
he told Kathryn Jenson White.
“I’m waiting on a script. I was interested and still am, but it’s all script, script, script. I loved Scooby-Doo as a kid. It was the comfort food of my childhood. I loved dogs. I thought Shaggy would be interesting if he were this kind of politically correct guy. It’s a hippie update.”
Missed Opportunity
Despite his enthusiasm, things didn’t pan out. Once Raja Gosnell came on board to direct, Myers was quietly shown the door. Instead, Matthew Lillard landed the part and has been making a living off Shaggy ever since, voicing the character in all sorts of telly shows, streaming specials, and games. If Myers had stayed on, the film probably wouldn’t have looked too different from the 2002 version, though you can bet his unique style of comedy would’ve been front and centre. The script, penned by James Gunn, ended up being more of a team effort, but it’s hard to imagine the studio hiring the bloke behind Austin Powers and then sticking him third on the bill, like they did with Lillard.
Over the years, the film has become a bit of a cult favourite, but there’s no telling if that would’ve happened with Myers in the lead. In the end, his passion for Scooby-Doo wasn’t enough to get the project off the ground, let alone see it through to the finish line.