Mike Myers has been absent from our screens (if not our hearts, and DVD collections) since 2004's Shrek 2, but he's set to be all over our cinemas in the next couple of years. Following next month's Shrek the Third, he's in talks for a number of projects including, it was announced today, being attached to star in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty remake.
The original film of 1947 starred Danny Kaye as a comic book writer and daydreamer with an overprotective mother who imagined his life as a series of heroic adventures, in contrast to its dull reality. However, when a mysterious woman gives Mitty a book that she claims contains directions to the missing Dutch crown jewels, he gets caught in a real adventure and finds that it's less fun than he hoped.
Jay Kogen, a writer and producer on The Simpsons and Frasier, is writing the script for producer Samuel Goldwyn. Myers replaces Jim Carrey, who was originally slated to star in the film, with Owen Wilson also previously rumoured for the role. Directors-wise, Spielberg, Ron Howard and Mean Girls' Mark Waters have all been through the revolving doors on the project, but there's no one signed on at the moment, with the film apparently being re-thought with Myers in mind.
But there's no rush - Myers has plenty to keep him busy in the meantime. In September he starts work on The Love Guru, based on the Pitka character he created and has been touring comedy clubs with, and he's also signed on for See Me, Feel Me: Keith Moon Naked For Your Pleasure, the biopic of The Who's legendary drummer.
As if that weren't enough, he's also lined up for How To Survive A Robot Uprising and there are rumours of a fourth instalment in the Austin Powers franchise, possibly with Dr Evil as its focus, so fingers especially crossed for that one.