Myers is a purr-fect Cat

Austin Powers star Mike Myers has taken on what he describes as the most difficult role of his life.

He is playing a verbose cat in a film adaptation of Dr Seuss's The Cat In The Hat.

And Myers, who created two of the most popular comedy characters in recent movie history (Powers the spy and Wayne Campbell the hippy in Wayne's World), says his latest role as the cat is also a dream come true. His British parents used to read the book to him in what was his first contact with comedy.

Myers said: "It's my favourite book of all time. [The role] is, honestly, a life-long dream. That sounds like PR speak but it really is true.

"My mother used to read it to me but, of course, in a Liverpool accent because that's where she is from. I'm so looking forward to coming to London for the premiere, since she spent time there studying. I consider myself British in some ways."

True to form, the 40-year-old comedian got into character for the role by donning a full-body cat suit, long whiskers and the trademark striped hat. He said he spent two hours in make-up every day, adding: "My wife Robin would come to the set and just want to stroke my head and have me as a pet. Of course, she already does."

Myers is pictured here bouncing on a sofa with co-stars Dakota Fanning, nine, and 11-year-old Spencer Breslin. He says of his co-stars: "I'm happily upstaged by them. Spencer's a boy genius and little Dakota's a combination of Judy Garland in Wizard Of Oz and Meryl Streep. She's so sweet you just want to bite her face. Not break the skin - just gnaw."

He says the movie "feels like a Seventies film, like Willy Wonka or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It's got a happy Saturday morning feeling. It's like how you wish life always was".