THE MOVIE PAGES presents ROWEN ATKINSON in MR BEANS HOLIDAY mrbeansholiday.htm

What Do The Critics Say?

"Rowan Atkinson's face continues to deliver the juicy squirms that pass for communication and his pratfalls retain that inelegant quality that serve to entertain our own inner villainous child. A terrific supporting cast in Willem Dafoe, the boisterous young Max Baldry and especially the charming Emma de Caunes, ensure an entertaining ride, but it's not the riot that Bean's crazy Cannes holiday could have been."
Andrew L Urban URBAN CINEFILE
"Ten years after the first film, Bean returns to the big screen for a more self-contained adventure clearly inspired by Chaplin, Keaton and Tati. And it works surprisingly well: charming, silly and extremely engaging. In this character, Atkinson's body seems almost prehensile--arms, legs, even eyebrows are deployed to perfect effect. Atkinson keeps the character endearingly bumbling rather than obnoxious. And it's great fun to see Dafoe so gleefully send up a deserving Hollywood stereotype. In avoiding the temptation to make another blockbuster, the filmmakers have actually rediscovered the character in a smart, funny way."
Rich Cline SHADOWS ON THE WALL
"Crucially, the film-makers have decided to make Bean more of a bumbling innocent, than the obnoxious and frequently mean-spirited character of the TV show. Similarly, the initially tedious conceit of Bean’s ever-present video camera pays off beautifully in the surprisingly moving and cleverly written climax. Atkinson gives an astonishing physical performance and it’s notable that he has hardly any dialogue, although his three words of French (oui, non and gracias) provide an amusing running gag. There’s also strong support from Baldry (lively and likeable), Emma de Caunes (thankfully she’s not the love interest) and a very game Willem Dafoe. With superb performances and some inspired gags "Mr Beans Holiday" is a surprisingly sweet comedy that’s a huge improvement on the previous film. Worth seeing."
Matthew Turner VIEW LONDON

"The piece de resistance is the wonderful sequence when Bean arrives in Cannes and attends the premiere of the film directed by Willem Dafoe's self-absorbed Carson Clay. It is a brilliant piece of cinema and the sight of Bean hanging out of the projectionist's box is unforgettable. The picturesque French countryside with its wild red poppies and lush, verdant fields looks gorgeous, as is Bean's first sight of the sparkling blue Mediterranean. Everything that can go wrong predictably does so, but all's well that ends well, and the film finishes in oomphy musical style to the strains of La Mer."
Louise Keller URBAN CINEFILE
"Onscreen the whole time, and with virtually no dialogue beyond "oui," "non" and, uh, "gracias," Atkinson is the whole movie, in a role that's essentially beyond critique. Even when an extended gag is not especially funny, thesp always has a big enough bag of physical mannerisms to fill in the dull patches. Aside from Baldry, whose neat chemistry with Atkinson gives the pic some emotional underpinning, other thesps are basically decorative. Dafoe is well cast as the Amerindie "auteur"; French thesp Emma de Caunes (whose dad, Antoine, pops up briefly as a TV reporter) is OK as a wannabe actress who hooks up with Bean and Stepan. Helming by British TV director Steve Bendelack is much slicker than Mel Smith's on 1997's "Bean." Feel-good score by Howard Goodall is a valuable assist throughout."
Derek Elley VARIETY
"Whereas the previous Bean movie tried hard to crack the elusive (and lucrative) American market by adding more dialogue than is usual for your average Mr. Bean episode and moving the action to the States, Mr. Bean's Holiday remains doggedly true to its source material. Most of the action takes place in Europe (notably France and Britain ) and if there are all in all three pages of dialogue one would be surprised. You can safely take the kids and yourself to see Mr. Bean's Holiday."
James O'Ehley SA MOVIE & DVD MAGAZINE

The Inside Story After a ten year break Mr Bean is back in another adventure, this time focussing on a holiday he wins in the local church rebuilding fundraiser. "We always felt that there was another movie to be made with "Mr Bean", but it would be a very different film from the first one,” explains Rowan Atkinson, the award-winning actor and writer who co-created the comedy character with Richard Curtis. "We did the first movie 10 years ago and if we were going to make a sequel it would have been logical to make it eight or nine years ago rather than now, but it just took time to get round to thinking about it." And did he have any problems getting back into the groove as Mr Bean? "I didn’t find it difficult in finding him again, understanding him and knowing how he would behave in any given situation," Atkinson recalls. "I no longer have to work on him or think about him and how he's going to react. I instinctively know him, his childish instincts are very strong to me. The challenge of filming for me is being at the centre of the film and being in virtually every scene and making sure that the relationships between Bean and the people he meets work and work well." The first film was set in the U.S.A but this is say, a euro version. "I always believed that there was a European style movie to be made with Mr Bean," Atkinson says. So how did the latest adventure start its journey? "Once we had finished "Johnny English" I suggested to Rowan that we develop two films one of which would be a sequel to Mr Bean," says Working Titles Tim Bevan. And the involvement of Simon McBurney? Bevan recalls "someone then had the genius idea of involving Simon McBurney who co-founded Theatre de Complicite. He has a lot of experience with movement and mime. Essentially both he and Rowan strive to do the same thing, which is to engage the audience through more or less silent comedy." For McBurney, the prospect of working with Atkinson must have seemed like a dream come true. "I first met him and saw him work in the early 1980s when I was very young and I was mesmerised by his stage work because he was one of those performers who could go on stage and nothing would happen and you would be completely entranced, roaring with laughter, but you didn't know what he was doing," notes McBurney. McBurney admits to having a love for old silent movies and that he always wanted to pay homage to the era. "One of the first things I did with Rowan was to sit down and watch films by Buster Keaton, Charlie Chapin, Harold Lloyd and Carl Valentine. We also watched bits of Jacques Tati and I thought it would be thrilling to try and make a film in which Bean hardly says a thing. He is the most wonderful character when he's doing something, rather than saying something." Obviously, comparisons will be made with the great French classic "Monsieur Hulot's Holiday"?

"It wasn't particularly inspired by Monsieur Hutot's Holiday. In many ways the essence of that film was that he was travelling for five minutes and was on the beach for an hour and a half, whereas we travel for an hour and half of the film's running time and then we're on the beach for five minutes," Atkinson pointed out. "So it's an inverse of that film." "Mr Bean's Holiday" introduces cinemagoers to the delightful French actress, Emma de Caunes. "Before Simon became involved we thought that maybe it should be a film about Bean and a woman," says Bevan ("Fargo"). "When Simon came on board he felt that Bean was not a character that would fall in love on screen, but he found the idea that there should be a woman involved in the story somewhere very interesting." Travelling with the vivaceous Sabine doesn't deflect Bean from his goal, making it to the beach. In this case the beach at Cannes. "Simon and Rowan decided that the film should be a journey and that we should keep it as simple and as pure as possible. Our hero would be going on holiday to the seaside and the film would be entirely about his journey of getting to the beach and all the cock ups and problems that happen along the way," says Bevan ("Gone"). "Emma de Caunes is everything that we would wish. She manages to convey tenderness but has a volatility which is our view of the French actress," Atkinson says. "For Sabine, we needed somebody neither too young nor too mature. There was an age beyond which it was not going to be that interesting and too young would be a bit too cute. Emma just hits that middle, she's exactly the right age. She also understands the peaks and troughs of an acting career which was useful for the character," co-producer Caroline Hewitt concurs. For Emma de Caunes, accepting the role of Sabine was a simple decision, after all she was a big fan of Bean and she compares Atkinsons talent with that of the great Chaplin. "When I was 15 or 16, my dad used to bring me back the tapes of Bean and I was really mad for it," de Caunes said. "He really made me laugh so I’m a huge fan. I love the fact that he’s really quite innocent, like a child and we can all understand him. And there’s a lot of poetry in the film. It was also an opportunity to work with Rowan who is an amazing actor. The role is not just burlesque, he's a fantastic actor and I really loved watching him working and improvising. For me he's like a Charlie Chaplin." Max Baldry Max who lived in Moscow and Warsaw before moving to England and now trains at the Jackie Palmer Stage School was cast in the role of Stepan. "I grew up in Poland and we used to watch Mr Bean. He's known all over the world. One day when we were filming at the Arc de Triomphe a coach of Japanese tourists went by and they were all opening the windows and saying 'Mr Bean! Mr Bean!' It was really funny," he notes. "It's very exciting for me be acting with him, although I find him so funny it's sometimes very hard for me not to laugh." I, like many viewers, will wonder how he kept a straight face in the segment where Mr Bean lipsyncs Puccini's 'O Mio Babbino Caro' ('Oh My Dear Daddy'), an aria from Puccini's 1918 production of the opera Gianni Schicchi. In the film Atkinson lipsynced to the Rita Streich recording. Her stunning voice brought back memories of the late, great Maria Callas (December 2nd 1923 – September 16th 1977) and Dame Kiri te Kanawa CBE singing the aria. Their performances will be forever etched in time. Another great character in the film is, Carson Clay.

The filmmakers approached Willem Dafoe, one of America’s top actors who needed little persuading to accept the part. "I’m a great fan of Rowan's," Dafoe says, "and I really loved the part. I play an art house prima donna, a filmmaker who stars in his own films, but who is making a yoghurt commercial for money. In a way he's the straight man to Mr Bean, who is a constant thorn in his side." Carson Clay is such a fun character. Co-producer Caroline Hewitt agrees. "It's a fun character because it's a caricature of the kind of pretentious art house film director who has to make commercials to make ends meet and then makes the most boring art house movie known to man. Willem came to it so generously and openly and immediately got it." Dafoe agrees its a real departure from the roles usually takes. "It's different to what I've done before and that usually helps whet my appetite. It felt like an adventure because I had to learn a new approach. It's physical comedy and that's quite liberating. It really was a lot of fun." Helming the production is director Steve Bendelack who made his debut with the film, "League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse". So why go for a virtual 'unknown'? "We wanted to find somebody who had a sense of comedy and worked with comedic actors, but also had a real sense of cinema," says Bevan. "Steve was the right person." How did Bendelack find working with Atkinson? "I was interested by the subtlety of his performance," the director of "Little Britian" said. "It's a collaboration because he knows the character so well. There is a part of his personality that is genuinely extrapolated into this character, so that's very interesting to work with." Co-producer Hewitt notes that slipping into the Bean role comes easy to Atkinson. "During filming I got to know Rowan and to watch him transform into Mr Bean was almost a shock. It’s a complete personality take-over. It's not like with other actors who explore their characters. Rowan knows exactly who Bean is, he can say with complete authority, 'I would not, as Bean, do this', he is completely embedded with the character. It’s fascinating to watch." As is "Mr Bean's Holiday". Especially the final act which is set at the Cannes International Film Festival. The team created a milestone by becoming the first film crew ever allowed to film on the red carpet during the festival. "It was amazing that we were allowed to film there," says Hewitt. "Giles Jacob, the festival president, turned out to be a fan of Mr Bean and just liked the idea. They were incredibly welcoming and helped in every single way they possibly could. We filmed one scene live as a real film entourage were going up the red carpet. We cheekily just jumped on the back of it." "It was really exciting because nobody really knew that we were shooting a movie," de Caunes said. "It was funny. It was great to have some of the craziness of Cannes during the festival in the film." Synopsis

It's June and the weather is just what you'd expect for a British summer. Yes it's raining cats and dogs. Mr Bean has arrived just in time for the drawing of prizes in the local churches raffle. He's beside himself with joy when he wins the first prize, a return ticket to sunny Cannes, a digital camcorder and two hundred Euro's to spend. He boards the Eurostar to Paris and in no time at all arrives at The Gare du Nord. After filming nearby highlights it is time to start the next stage of his journey, but a mix-up at the taxi stand means Bean ends up in La Defense rather than the intended Gare du Lyon. Using his ingenuity he makes it to Gare du Lyon just missing his connection. On the platform he asks a Russian man to film him. He obliges but is left standing on the platform as the train pulls away. It is then Bean realises the man’s son is alone on the train. Bean's attempts to reunite father and son are a dismal failure. Bean carries on his journey oblivious to the fact that he is now considered by the police to be a ruthless child kidnapper.

The Verdict "Mr Bean returns to the big-screen in a film which thankfully is not a disaster for its star Rowen Atkinson. Sure it's a little silly at times but in the main, "Mr Bean's Holiday" is very funny and quite entertaining. There are plenty of magic moments. One of the best is the screening of a film at the Cannes International Film Festival by Carson Clay, who is played, or should I say wonderfully overplayed, by Willem Dafoe. Young Max Baldry is delightful as the young boy police believe Bean has kidnapped. If you've seen the trailer then you'll already know that Bean takes to a bike during the film. Well, there's more to this segment than meets the eye. All round I suspect a lot of cinemagoers are going to have a lot of fun with "Mr Bean's Holiday". Worth a look at. 3 STARS." Cast & Crew Bytes "MR BEANS HOLIDAY" stars .......
Rowan Atkinson ["Never Say Never Again", "The Tall Guy", "Four Weddings and a Funeral " and "Bean - The Ultimate Disaster Movie"]; Max Baldry ["Chico"]; 1998 Cesar Most Promising Actress Award winner Emma de Caunes ["Les Amants du Nil", "You Are My Sunshine" and "Short Order"]; Willem Dafoe ["Spiderman", "The English Patient", "Born on the Fourth of July" and "Auto Focus"]; 1998 Alfréd Radok Award winner Karel Roden ["15 Minutes", "Bulletproof Monk", "The Bourne Supremacy" and "Hellboy"] and Three Time Cesar Award winner Jean Rochefort ["Tandem", "Tango", "The Hairdressers Husband" and "Le Crabe-tambour"] as the Maitre D.
"MR BEANS HOLIDAY" was .......
directed by Steve Bendelack ["The League of Gentlemen", "French and Saunders" and "Little Britain"]; story by Simon McBurney [appeared in "Sleepy Hollow", "The Manchurian Candidate", "Friends With Money" and "The Last King Of Scotland "]; production design by BAFTA winner Michael Carlin ["Fever Pitch", "The War Zone", "The Last King of Scotland" and TV'S "Crime and Punishment"]; edited by ACE & RTS Awards winner Tony Cranstoun ["The Forsythe Saga", "Cold Feet" and "Queer As Folk"]; cinematography by Baz Irvine ["Relativity", "Six Shooter" and "Lives of the Saints"]; original music by Ivor Novello Award & 2000 BAFTA Huw Weldon Award winner Howard Goodall ["Blackadder", "Mr Bean", "Red Dwarf" and "The Vicar Of Dibley"]; produced by Peter Bennet-Jones ["Mr Bean", "The Vicar of Dibley" and "Billy Elliot"], 2004 Michael Balcon Award winner Tim Bevan C.B.E. ["Dead Man Walking", "Fargo" and "Four Weddings and a Funeral"] and Alexander Walker Film Award winner Eric Fellner C.B.E. ["Love Actually", "Notting Hill" and "Johnny English"]. Who's Who?

Rowan Atkinson
Max Baldry
Emma de Caunes
Willem Dafoe
Stéphane Debac
Clint Dyer
Jean Rochefort
Karel Roden

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Mr Bean
Stepan
Sabine
Carson Clay
Traffic Controller #2
Luther
Maitre D
Emil