Mini-Me in 'Powers': More exploitation of little people?
By Will Evans
Sacramento Bee Staff Writer
(Published Aug. 1, 2002
Verne Troyer, as Mini-Me in "Austin Powers in Goldmember," is subjected to physical and verbal abuse -- but is always able to recover. New Line Productions/Melinda Sue Gordon
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Just because you're one-eighth their size, Austin Powers' dad tells Mini-Me, it doesn't mean you deserve just one-eighth their respect.
It's a self-conscious moment in the Mike Myers film "Austin Powers in Goldmember." For although it's used to set up some outrageous humor, it also highlights the dilemma of a little actor gone big-time.
Despite elevating actor Verne Troyer to international fame, Mini-Me is the kind of role that some little people have come to look down upon.
The mute but feisty Mini-Me first appeared in "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" as the tiny clone of Powers' nemesis, Dr. Evil. While he suffered his share of ridicule in that previous sequel, Mini-Me returns in "Goldmember," which opened Friday, only to be thoroughly beaten down.
In one scene, to the audience's roars, the pint-size character gets brutally pummeled by Powers, who hits him over the head, kicks him across the room and swings him around in a sack. The 2-foot-8-inch Mini-Me rebounds, though, and you'll have to see the movie to learn the rest.
Brian Kline, who had auditioned for the part, says he's glad he was passed up.
"They're using Verne as a prop -- he's kind of the butt-end of jokes," Kline says during a phone interview from his home in Hawaii. "It's demeaning. I prefer not to do that kind of thing."
Troyer was not available for comment.
The exploitation of little actors in film is an issue almost as old as cinema itself. From getting paid less than Toto for the filming of 1939's "The Wizard of Oz" to being supplanted by special effects in contemporary movies, little people have struggled to be treated with respect in the entertainment business.
Meanwhile, "dwarfsploitation" is a heated topic of debate on an Internet news group -- primarily dedicated to job postings -- for little actors. Some short-statured entertainers decry job openings like "midget or dwarf for retirement party," while others defend a little person's right to take any job.
Kline says he won't go see "Goldmember," which had a box-office take of $73 million in its opening weekend. But he considers Troyer a friend and doesn't fault him for taking the part.
"All of us have been in the business for a while and we're all trying to make a breakthrough and we're trying to be taken seriously," he says.
"Verne's not doing it to demean himself or anybody else. We all went into the audition and Verne was the one that scored it."
The repercussions, however, are felt beyond the movie theater.
When "The Spy Who Shagged Me" came out in 1999, Kline -- who has a bald head like the evil clone -- was bombarded by people calling him Mini-Me. And he wasn't the only one.
"We're just kind of bracing for the next round of it," Kline says. "We know it's going to happen. I'm not going to be warmly receptive to it this time."
Kline says he can handle it. A bodybuilder, he brags that if he were cast as Mini-Me, "I would have hurt (the character) Fat Bastard." But not every little person is so built.
"A lot of little people that this is going to come down on are not going to be able to defend themselves," Kline says. "I know Mike (Myers) is not doing that to be vicious and pick on little people, but there is a consequence to that kind of behavior."
All little people have to put up with name-calling and other harassment, says Jim Kay, president of the San Joaquin Valley chapter of Little People of America. But he wouldn't blame a movie.
"And it's funny. You gotta say that -- it's funny," says the Carmichael resident. "He may be small, but he's powerful. ... For everything that's done to him, he's got a comeback."
"It's funny" was also the verdict of audience members leaving a Saturday showing of "Goldmember" at the Century Downtown Plaza 7.
"You have to have a sense of humor," says Bethany Mummy, 20. "Don't be too politically correct."
Funny or not, roles for little people have not improved, says Kline, whose film credits include "My Giant" and "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." Whereas obvious examples of intolerance in film, such as the use of blackface, are no longer acceptable, little people are still fair game for discrimination, he says.
In the past several years, Kline says, computers or production wizardry has allowed many little actors, including him, to be replaced with "average-size" ones for parts that should have gone to little people.
There have been, though, some places a little guy can get a break -- like the "merry old land of Oz."
Take it from the Lollipop Kid.
Jerry Maren, now 82 years old, was the Munchkin who handed Dorothy a giant lollipop in "The Wizard of Oz."
"I loved every minute of it," says Maren, who had never met another little person until he came upon the 100-plus cast of Munchkins.
Still, the actors were taken advantage of by their agent, who worked them long hours and paid little, Maren says. Then they were mocked by rumors about excessive drinking and partying.
Producers use little actors just to make a buck, adds Maren, who also has appeared on television ("Seinfeld"); in various films, including the Marx Brothers' "At the Circus"; and in commercials as Buster Brown for the shoe company. Over the years, he says, he hasn't seen any good roles for little people.
"They're just exploiting the size, always making them look stupid," he says from his home in Los Angeles. "Small man, small brain -- that's what they think. Even the (roles) I played, nothing's really good. ... They let the (little people) suffer for the comedy."
But in the Austin Powers movies, Mini-Me isn't the only one to suffer, says Barbara Brullo, a spokeswoman for Little People of America.
"There are so many characters that are so outlandish that Mini-Me is just another character," she says. "I don't think it's really making a big issue of little people."
The Bee's Will Evans can be reached at (916) 321-1987 or wevans@sacbee.com.
