Politixia
Since they are so intrinsically linked, it can be hard to separate Mr. Bean from Rowan Atkinson, but the character was in fact co-created by filmmaker Richard Curtis, who has since gone on to mastermind his own impressive career, writing and/or directing films like “Love Actually,” “About Time” and “Yesterday.”
Atkinson and Curtis met as students at the University of Oxford, both part of a small comedy troupe on campus. The dynamic between them was instantaneous; Curtis was outgoing and talkative, while Atkinson was largely silent but adept at holding the attention of an audience.
When it came to acting together, Atkinson was the primary performer, with Curtis sometimes playing the straight man opposite him on stage. Atkinson has always said he isn’t much of a writer and is more of a performer, so Curtis was always there to flesh out the writing and give context to Atkinson’s wild physical antics. After they created the Mr. Bean character together on stage in the late ’70s, Atkinson and Curtis spent the ’80s working together on the beloved “Blackadder” TV series, then returned to their co-creation for the “Mr. Bean” TV show in 1990.
Atkinson, of course, continued performing, but Curtis moved away from acting altogether once their stage days were behind them. Instead, Curtis found success writing the screenplays to big movies like “Bridget Jones’s Diary” and “Notting Hill” and writing and directing “Love Actually,” “About Time,” and “Pirate Radio,” released in some countries (including America) as “The Boat That Rocked.”
