HELL-LOWW.'' The deep, well-rounded voice down the phone is unmistakeable. ''Hello, good morning, I'm fine thank you, how are you, are you in Melbourne? Ah right, and how is it there?'' Rowan Atkinson says, barely pausing for breath (or a reply).
Speaking from Sydney, the British comedian best known for his characters the eccentric Mr Bean and the bile-spitting Blackadder, was in hyper-promo mode as he churned - with faultless charm - through the gauntlet of interviews for the latest adventure of his most recent screen incarnation, the spy Johnny English, in Johnny English Reborn.
In 2003's Johnny English, Atkinson introduced the world to the overconfident, under-skilled agent who becomes the last spy left standing to protect not just the Crown jewels but the British empire itself. In this latest instalment, English is recalled to Her Majesty's Secret Service to stop a group of international assassins from killing a world leader.
Advertisement: Story continues below
Eight years on, there are only two constants from the original - producers Working Title and Atkinson. Gone are former cast members John Malkovich and Natalie Imbruglia; in their place are Gillian Anderson (The X-Files), Rosamund Pike (Pride & Prejudice) and Dominic West (The Wire), as well as a new writer, Hamish McColl, and director, Oliver Parker.
''Yeah, I know, I'm not sure why that is, it's not because we were desperately unhappy with anyone on the first film,'' Atkinson says. ''I think it's one of the problems of leaving it eight years; your perception and your priorities change.
''Generally speaking, I felt that with the first movie, the story and some of the peripheral characters were so sort of silly and unbelievable, I kind of wanted with this film for the plot and the narrative to be a little more credible … I wouldn't like to say we've contrived the most serious-minded plot in the world but I think it's got a little more narrative integrity than the first film.''
The way to do this, he says, was to cast the film as if it was about the very character it was based on - James Bond. ''Everybody in it we wanted to be people and actors who you would expect to find in a Bond movie,'' he says. ''Because I think the more serious … we make the context in which we put a character as flawed as Johnny English, then I think the better the jokes work. It's a bit like the last series of Blackadder. Not the most comic context in world history [it's set in World War I] - but in many ways the more serious the context, the better the jokes shone out in contrast.''
If there is a thread between Atkinson's characters - Mr Bean, Blackadder and Johnny English - it's their narcissism. And it's the inevitable ego blows that form the kernels of many of the jokes.
''Someone like Johnny English, for example, who thinks he's better than he actually is, he's got ambitions that far outstrip his skill. The joke of Johnny English is the degree to which he falls short of his expected abilities,'' Atkinson chuckles.
''Mr Bean is a more complex thing, he's just eccentric … but I think Johnny English would certainly be more pleasant company at dinner than Mr Bean or Blackadder. Blackadder is so completely cynical and self-centred. But I think Johnny English is a good man and a man of integrity. He wants to succeed for queen and country, though he wants to look good doing it.''