Mike Myers’ Crazy Original Idea for ‘Wayne’s World 2’

Unlike Powers, however, Myers saw no compelling reason for Wayne Campbell to return to the big screen. He admitted, “I didn’t feel like doing another one. I didn’t think a sequel was necessary.” But when there’s a huge amount of money to be made, a movie studio is unlikely to take no for an answer, so Myers came up with an idea that appealed to him enough to start writing a script.In classic Myers fashion, the comedian was strong inspired by a 1949 English comedy called Pass to Pimlico.

Myers was adamant: “I told everybody at Paramount then, ‘There’s a movie called Pass to Pimlico. I am writing this, but you must have the rights to it.’ They said, ‘Okay, go ahead and write it.’ I mentioned Pass to Pimlico at every meeting.”

The plot of the obscure British comedy was about a small part of the Pimlico area in London being legally declared the domain of the House of Burgundy, making it exempt from Britain’s post-war rationing. In Myers’ update, Campbell finds a Revolutionary War scroll that indicates his hometown of Aurora, Illinois, never actually signed up to be part of the United States. When he tries to hold a rock concert and is rejected by the local government, he declares Aurora the ‘Kingdom of Waynedavia’ – the world’s first heavy metal state.

Wayne’s world 2 went into pre-production with this script, but then everything went pear-shaped. Despite his repeated claims that he told Paramount to secure right to Passport to Pimlicono such thing happened. When a new studio administration took over, Myers claimed it told him, “We never got the rights to it, and you’re shooting in ten weeks.”

According to Leading Ladythe biography of then-Paramount head Sherry Lansing, she and Myers had an intense confrontation in her office over the whole debacle. An unnamed employee in the meeting claimed Lansing screamed at Myers, “How dare you? How dare you put us in this position?” and even threatened: “We will sue you. We’re taking your fucking house. You won’t even own a fucking home.”

In this version of events, Myers was so terrified by Lansing’s threats that he curled up in the fetal position on her couch. She then allegedly told him in no uncertain terms: “If I were you, Mike, I’d go to Lorne’s office right now and stay there until you come up with a new script. We’re shoving food under the door.”

Ultimately, Myers took some of the ideas from his script and reshaped them into a tale of Campbell trying to organize Waynestock, a music festival in Aurora. The film received mixed reviews and grossed only $72 million worldwide, less than half of the first film’s total. Maybe Myers was right and there was really no need to bring Wayne’s World back – no matter how many studio managers threatened to ruin his life.

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