Johnny English
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Johnny English (2003) is a comic movie parodying the James Bond secret agent genre, starring Rowan Atkinson as the incompetent British spy of the title, with John Malkovich, Natalie Imbruglia and Ben Miller, and featuring a unique car chase.
The screenplay was written by Bond writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, with William Davies and the film is directed by former Bread actor Peter Howitt.
A second Johnny English movie is currently being written, though no date has been set for release.
The character of Johnny English himself is based on a similar character called Philip Latham who was played by Atkinson in a series of British television commercials for Barclaycard. The character of Bough (pronounced 'Boff') was retained from the commercials though another actor, Henry Naylor, played the part in the commercials. Some of the gags from the commercials made it into the film, including English incorrectly identifying a waiter, and the ballpoint pen scene (Latham 'shot' himself in the face with his tommy gun whilst demonstrating to a class of spy recruits, saying as he collapsed "take over for a Bough will you moment").
Plot
When a plot to steal the Crown Jewels is revealed, Britain puts its secret agents on the case. Not very soon after, however, almost all of them are killed. Johnny English, an inept worker at British intelligence is summoned as a last resort. Together with his assistant Bough, he manages to discover the person behind the plot, Frenchman Pascal Sauvage, who is a distant relative of Britain's royalty.
Sauvage, believing that the crown should have gone to him instead of the monarch, has hatched an evil plan to become King of Britain: steal the Crown Jewels, make an impostor of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and have him proclaim Sauvage as King. English's clumsy efforts pay off, and Sauvage's plan is foiled; undeterred, he simply thinks up another scheme.
Meanwhile, English reports the plan to MI7 (British intelligence), who naturally don't believe him. English gatecrashes a party held by Sauvage, and is promptly dismissed by his superiors. Sauvage's henchmen enter Sandringham House and force the Queen to sign a letter of abdication renouncing her family's claim to the British throne, leaving the post free for Sauvage. Sauvage is informed by British officials the day after that, as the closest surviving relative of the Queen, the position of monarch now belongs to him.
English infiltrates Sauvage's chateau in France on his own and overhears Sauvage's proposal of turning Great Britain into a giant prison once he is king. At Sauvage's coronation, English arrives and accuses him of treason. While he is trying to rescue the crown jewels from Sauvage, he is inadvertently crowned king himself; he then places Sauvage under arrest, reveals the schemes to the public, and abdicates in favor of the Queen.
Trivia
- The letter of abdication given to the Queen gives her title as "Elizabeth the second, of Great Britain, Ireland and the British dominions...." The Queen is queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Republic of Ireland is a sovereign state, the head of state of which is the President of Ireland.
- Some scenes were filmed at Canary Wharf in London.
- The scenes set in Westminster Abbey were filmed in St Albans Abbey, which has the longest nave in Britain.
- The news broadcast at the end of the film claims that treason still carries the death penalty. In fact, since the coming into force of the Human Rights Act 1998 in 2000, the United Kingdom abolished capital punishment completely.
- The movie grossed $158,919,243 internationally. [link]
- The party scene features a real-life string quartet called Bond.
External links
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