Johnny English

Johnny English
Company type	Film
Industry	Film industry
Founded	2003; 23 years ago
Founder	Peter Howitt (director), Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, William Davies (screenwriters)
Products	Spy action comedy film
Parent	StudioCanal, Working Title Films

Johnny English is a 2003 British spy film action comedy film helmed by director Peter Howitt, with a screenplay authored by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade alongside William Davies. The production companies behind the movie are StudioCanal and Working Title Films. The narrative centers on an inept MI7 operative assigned to retrieve the pilfered Crown Jewels.

The cast features Rowan Atkinson, supported by Natalie Imbruglia, Ben Miller, and John Malkovich. This film marks the inaugural entry in the Johnny English series. It serves as a comedic spoof of the spy genre, with particular emphasis on the James Bond franchise, incorporating elements reminiscent of Atkinson's iconic Mr. Bean persona as well as his 1990s Barclaycard commercials portraying a bungling secret agent.

Distributed by Universal Pictures, Johnny English debuted in the United States on 18 July 2003. Although critical reception was mixed, it achieved substantial commercial success, earning $160 million globally against a production budget of $40 million. The film was initially released in the United Kingdom on 11 April 2003, where it dominated the box office for three weeks before being overtaken by X2. Its success led to two follow-up films: Johnny English Reborn (2011) and Johnny English Strikes Again (2018).

Plot

Johnny English is a well-meaning yet clumsy agent of MI7 who dreams of becoming Agent One, the agency’s premier operative. Following the demise of the actual Agent One along with all other agents—mostly due to English’s own blunders—he finds himself as the only agent left to complete a critical mission.

He is tasked with preventing the theft of the restored Crown Jewels during an event hosted by French tycoon Pascal Sauvage. At the unveiling held at the Tower of London, English encounters the enigmatic Lorna Campbell. Amidst a sudden blackout, the Crown Jewels are stolen; in the chaos, English inadvertently incapacitates the head of security and concocts a false suspect description for MI7 chief Pegasus.

Together with his assistant Angus Bough, English discovers a tunnel beneath where the jewels were displayed and confronts German criminals Dieter Klein and Klaus Vendetta, who manage to escape. English loses track of them after mistakenly following an incorrect hearse and ends up disrupting a funeral until Bough helps him disguise himself as an escaped mental patient.

It becomes clear that Sauvage is behind employing these thieves and orders them to eliminate English. Pegasus dismisses any allegations connecting Sauvage to the crime and instructs English and Bough to exclude Sauvage from their inquiry. After Vendetta attacks him, English starts suspecting Campbell, who appears repeatedly at crime scenes yet has no official government record.

Determined to expose Sauvage’s scheme, English and Bough infiltrate his headquarters and uncover plans for Sauvage to crown himself king using a counterfeit Archbishop of Canterbury. Their attempt to interrogate Klein goes awry when they accidentally inject themselves with muscle relaxants. Campbell intervenes to rescue them, revealing her true identity as an Interpol agent also pursuing Sauvage. When English tries to inform Pegasus, he is removed from the investigation due to his prior failures.

Sauvage changes tactics by threatening Queen Elizabeth II, coercing her to abdicate through blackmail involving her corgis. Campbell assumes command and convinces English to investigate Sauvage’s French estate discreetly. They discover his intention to transform Britain into its largest prison. Their plan to retrieve incriminating evidence fails when they mistakenly take an incorrect DVD and are captured.

Bough comes to their rescue, and together they rush to prevent Sauvage’s coronation. English reveals that the Archbishop is genuine by exposing his bare bottom—lacking a tattoo that would prove otherwise. However, playing back the DVD only shows footage of English lip-syncing to ABBA's "Does Your Mother Know". Sneaking back inside, English steals St Edward's Crown, but is shot at by Sauvage and drops it. Just before Sauvage can be crowned, English lands on the throne, knocking him off and assuming kingship himself. He arrests Sauvage and reinstates Elizabeth II, requesting only a knighthood in return.

A news report states that Sauvage awaits trial for high treason and has donated his brain for schizophrenia research. Driving through southern France with Campbell, English accidentally ejects her from his car while attempting to kiss her. In a post-credits scene, Campbell falls into a pool where Bough and a man resembling English’s imaginary attacker are relaxing on vacation.

Cast

Rowan Atkinson portrays Johnny English
Natalie Imbruglia appears as Lorna Campbell, an agent for INTERPOL
Ben Miller plays Angus Bough, English's partner
John Malkovich takes on the role of Pascal Sauvage, a French prison proprietor and descendant of James II
Oliver Ford Davies features as the Archbishop of Canterbury
Tim Pigott-Smith acts as Pegasus, the MI7 chief
Kevin McNally embodies the role of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Douglas McFerran portrays Klaus Vendetta, one of Sauvage's henchmen
Steve Nicolson plays Dieter Klein, another of Sauvage’s associates
Tasha de Vasconcelos appears as the Exotic Woman in one of English’s fantasies
Greg Wise is Agent One, MI7’s leading operative whose demise is inadvertently caused by English
Prunella Scales represents Queen Elizabeth II
Jenny Galloway performs as the Foreign Secretary
Chris Tarrant acts as the Radio Announcer during Sauvage’s coronation
Trevor McDonald delivers news announcing Sauvage’s ultimate fate

Director Peter Howitt makes a brief appearance as a man coerced by Bough into playing a DVD at Sauvage’s coronation.

Production

Prior to the release of Maybe Baby in March 2000, Atkinson committed to starring in a James Bond parody.

Filming commenced in July 2002 and spanned fourteen weeks. The production utilized locations including Shepperton Studios, London, and St. Albans, concluding with two days of shooting in Monte Carlo for the finale. In September 2002, Natalie Imbruglia was confirmed as a co-lead.

The character Johnny English draws inspiration from Richard Latham, whom Atkinson portrayed in Barclaycard advertisements in the UK. The character Bough also originated from these commercials but was recast for the film; Henry Naylor initially played Bough in the adverts. Several comedic moments from the ads—such as English confusing a waiter’s identity and accidentally tranquilizing himself—were incorporated into the movie.

Filming locations

Certain scenes were shot at London’s Canary Wharf, where visual effects duplicated the single tower at One Canada Square to create two identical buildings representing both the fictional London Hospital and Sauvage’s headquarters.
The sequences set inside Westminster Abbey were filmed at St. Albans Abbey, with interiors clearly identifiable as St Albans; the choir seen in the coronation scene is performed by the St Albans Cathedral Choir.
The opening dream sequence was filmed at Mentmore Towers.
Both exterior and interior shots of MI7 headquarters were captured at Freemasons' Hall, London, which also served as Thames House in Spooks.
Scenes showing Johnny English driving through Dover, Kent along the A20 road and arriving at the Port of Dover were filmed on location.
The French château attributed to Sauvage is actually represented by the castle atop St Michael's Mount in Cornwall.
Filming at Brompton Cemetery took place on location.

Reception

The film holds a 32% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 121 reviews, with an average score of 4.9/10. The critical consensus describes it as "a mild spy parody that generates occasional laughs." On Metacritic, it has achieved a score of 51 out of 100 from 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audience polling by CinemaScore resulted in a "B" grade for the film.

Soundtrack

The entire score was composed by Edward Shearmur and performed by the London Metropolitan Orchestra, except where otherwise specified.

"A Man for All Seasons" (composed by Hans Zimmer and Robbie Williams) – performed by Robbie Williams
"Theme from Johnny English" (by Howard Goodall)
"Russian Affairs"
"A Man of Sophistication"
"Kismet" (composed by Gay-Yee Westerhoff) – performed by Bond
"Truck Chase"
"The Only Ones" – performed by Moloko
"Parachute Drop"
"Pascal's Evil Plan"
"Theme from Johnny English (Salsa Version)" (Howard Goodall) – performed by Bond
"Off the Case"
"Cafe Conversation"
"Into Pascal's Lair"
"Zadok the Priest" – composed by Handel
"Does Your Mother Know" – performed by ABBA
"For England"
"Riviera Highway"
"Agent No. 1"

Home media

Johnny English became available on VHS on 11 August 2003 and was subsequently released on DVD on 11 January 2004. A special edition DVD titled Johnny English: Fully Loaded Edition was issued on 19 September 2011, including additional content related to its follow-up Johnny English Reborn. The film was later released on Blu-ray on 28 February 2012 alongside its sequel, and it was added to Netflix's streaming library in February 2016.

Sequels

The follow-up film, Johnny English Reborn, premiered in October 2011. Production commenced in September 2010 and concluded in March 2011. This installment follows Johnny English as he undergoes training in Asia after a previous failure and endeavors to prevent an assassination attempt targeting Chinese Premier Xiang Ping, while exposing a traitor within MI7.

Pre-production for the third installment, Johnny English Strikes Again, began in May 2017, with the film released on 5 October 2018.