The Spy Who Shocked Singapore

Mike Myers' comic character Austin Powers might be an International Man Of Mystery - but his language was too much for film censors in Singapore.

The sequel to the spy spoof, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, is released next month in the US, but censors in Singapore found the title too much to take.

Ken Low, general manager of Warner Brothers distributors in Singapore, told the local Straits Times newspaper that the Board Of Film Censors rejected the original title and Warner Brothers had opted to rename it Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shioked Me.

Shioked means good or nice in Singapore's mix of English, Malay and Chinese dialects.

The board said the use of the word 'shagged' was "crude and offensive".

Though it is well-known as a euphemism for sexual intercourse in the UK, it is less common in the US.

The film opens on 24 June in Singapore, and the word will now be removed from banners and publicity material. It reaches UK screens, title uncut, on 30 July.

The film - which stars Mike Myers as a 1960s British spy caught in a timewarp - is being launched at the Cannes Film Festival. The launch party on Saturday will be broadcast on the film's Website.

In the movie, the hapless Powers is forced to travel back in time to the 1960s to help defeat his arch-nemesis Dr Evil with the help of his CIA colleague, Felicity Shagwell, played by Heather Graham.

Elizabeth Hurley, who co-starred in the first movie, returns for a cameo role, along with Burt Bacharach, Willie Nelson, Tim Robbins and Elvis Costello.

The soundtrack includes contributions from Madonna and Spice Girl Mel B.

May 12, 1999

Copyright © 2002, British Broadcasting Corporation