10 Actors Who Perfected Roles YEARS Before The Movie

Perhaps one of the more underappreciated comedic performances in the Austin Powers sequel The Spy Who Shagged Me is that of Rob Lowe, who per the film's timey-wimey shenanigans plays a younger version of Dr. Evil's (Mike Myers) underling Number Two, who in his older form is of course played by Robert Wagner.

But Lowe set himself up for success years prior when he dated one of Wagner's daughters, and consequently developed his own impression of the legendary actor through spending time with him.

This paid off dividends when Lowe was playing golf with Mike Myers while the Austin Powers sequel was in the early development stages and performed his spot-on Wagner impression for the funnyman, which led to Lowe being offered the role of young Number Two. He said:

"I was out on the golf course with Mike Myers and we were playing around and we were talking about how much we like Robert Wagner and how great he is in the first 'Austin.' And I just off the top of my head did this sort of throw-away impression of Robert Wagner. Mike just cracked up.

And I didn't really think anything of it beyond that, but, about four months later, Mike sent me the script for the movie to see what I thought. And I'm reading it going, 'Oh, Mike's in another hit, it's funny.' And then, on page 15 or whatever it is in the script, it said, 'Enter: Young Number Two, as played by Rob Lowe' in parenthesis. That's the thing about Mike, you gotta watch what you say or he'll use it in a major motion picture."