WAYNE’S WORLD Director Explains Why Mike Myers and Dana Carvey Hated Shooting ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ Scene

The “Bohemian Rhapsody” scene in the 1992 film Wayne’s world it has to be one of the most iconic scenes in cinema. When Mike Myers AND Dan Carvey hop in The Mirthmobile, a powder blue 1976 AMC Pacer, and start rocking out to the beat of the classic Queen song, you can’t help but smile and laugh. That scene has stuck with me since I first saw it, and I have funny memories of recreating that scene for fun with my friends.

We previously shared that Myers had to fight to get that song into the movie! There was one other song that the studio and the producers wanted to use in the film, and it was a song by Guns N’ Roses. But Myers believed that the music didn’t have the right comedic value for the scene he had envisioned. myer said:

“But what I remember most about that was fighting very, very hard to be ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ and they didn’t want to do that. They wanted to do Guns N’ Roses, which I love Guns N’ Roses, but I had nothing funny for that. And then Lorne [Michaels – ‘Saturday Night Live’ creator and producer] he was like, ‘Do you really want this?’ I said: “Yes”. So Lorne fought for me. Lorne Michaels, Dana and I talked about five days ago [how] our necks are still hurting from ‘ba ba ba bom bom bom bom'”.

It’s great that they managed to patch things up and use the Queen song, but shooting the scene itself was a horrific experience for Myers and Carvey. During a recent interview with the director Penelope Sphere on the “It Happened in Hollywood” podcast, he explained why they hated filming the scene, saying:

“They hated doing it. They hated hitting their heads in the car. It hurt. [Metallica’s] James Hetfield, all those headbangers, they’re used to it. These guys weren’t used to doing that. They didn’t have any neck muscles, and he started hurting a lot. They started asking for Advil on set. The worst part is, Mike said he not only hurts, but it’s not funny.”

Ouch! That whole “not funny” part feels so weird because it’s one of the best parts of the movie! Spheeris explains why Myers didn’t quite connect with it, revealing that he hadn’t been able to attend test screenings to experience how audiences reacted. Instead, he saw it himself, and this movie is not meant to be watched alone! The reaction of the audience during such a scene takes it to a new level! Regardless, it didn’t hit for him, but it hit for the fans, and that’s what matters.

Carvey has talked about shooting this scene before and said it was torture. When asked about it, he said:

“No, it was pure torture. You know I wasn’t 14 at the time, even though it says on the first page of the script that Garth finally gets his pubis— I’m 35. We went out there, in a city, East of LA and we’re just starting to do that [headbang motion]. After the fifth period, yeah, two vertebrae just popped out of his back and poked Mike Myers in the eye of him. No, but yes, it was very, very, very, very painful. And also the fact that I hadn’t memorized the lyrics to the song.”

Although it was a painful experience for the two main stars, they have overcome it and now we can enjoy it whenever we want!