h how the mighty have fallen. Mike Myers was once the dominant comedic voice for an entire generation. His Wayne’s World and Austin Powers franchises killed at the box office and earned a great deal of critical respect. Then after a third Austin Powers entry that made a great deal of money despite lacking the originality and spark of the original, Myers disappeared. Five years went by without the beloved writer/actor committing anything to the screen beyond voice acting duties on the Shrek franchise (a job that required Myers to record for a few days per film and cash in a Scottish voice he’d already milked for characters in So I married An Axe Murder and Austin Powers) and an instantly forgettable cinematic rendition of The Cat In The Hat. Myers finally emerged from the wilderness last year and announced that he would write and star in a new film called The Love Guru. This generated excitement amongst movie fans until onset reports suggested Myers had become difficult to work with and a trailer appeared that generated disappointment and controversy.

Principal photography for The Love Guru kicked off last summer in and around Toronto. There was excitement among Toronto-native Mike Myers’ local fan base that cooled once the project began filming under extreme levels of secrecy and reports began to leaking about Myers’ bizarre behavior on set. Local film students, crew members, and fans went out of their way to find a job on The Love Guru set. For them it was an exciting opportunity to work with a T.O. legend on a highly anticipated production. They were shocked to arrive on a rather unwelcoming set that saw Myers not only refusing to speak to crew members but also becoming infuriated with them for making eye contact with the comedian during shooting. Complaints began to leak to the press that were quickly hushed by panicking P.R. personal. Such potentially exaggerated reports are hardly enough to suggest a film’s failure, particularly when they involve a traditionally guarded star who would be understandably nervous given his extended absence from the spotlight. But then the following trailer was released, bringing with it a vast shadow of doubt: