Rowan Atkinson finds playing Mr. Bean "stressful and exhausting"

6 January 2021, 13:49 | Updated: 6 January 2021, 18:18

Mr. Bean might be one of his most well-known characters, but the Atkinson has revealed why it's difficult to play him in a live action setting.

Rowan Atkinson finds it stressful visually depicting Mr. Bean.

The actor, writer and comedian is known around the world for playing the hapless character, but he's admitted he finds it exhausting and "not pleasant".

Atkinson revealed that he is “in the foothills” of developing an animated Mr. Bean film, telling the Radio Times: "It’s easier for me to perform the character vocally than visually".

The Johnny English star added: "I don’t much enjoy playing him. The weight of responsibility is not pleasant. I find it stressful and exhausting and I look forward to the end of it."

READ MORE: How Ben Elton gave Blackadder a new lease of life

Atkinson also talked about the possibility of bringing back Blackadder.

The series, which ran from 1983-1989, saw him star as Edmund Blackadder alongside the likes of Tony Robinson as Baldric and Tim McInnerny who played Lord Percy Percy, followed by Hugh Laurie in the same role.

When asked if the show could ever return, the star said it was "certainly not impossible".

“That’s about as optimistic as I can be,” he added. “And I’d rather not speculate on when it could be set. But Blackadder represented the creative energy we all had in the 80s. To try to replicate that 30 years on wouldn’t be easy."

While Blackadder took place across historical eras, Atkinson also compared cancel culture to the medieval times.

The problem we have online is that an algorithm decides what we want to see, which ends up creating a simplistic, binary view of society. It becomes a case of either you’re with us or against us. And if you’re against us, you deserve to be ‘cancelled,'" he mused.

"It’s important that we’re exposed to a wide spectrum of opinion, but what we have now is the digital equivalent of the medieval mob roaming the streets looking for someone to burn.

"So it is scary for anyone who’s a victim of that mob and it fills me with fear about the future."

READ MORE: Rowan Atkinson: Blackadder reboot is not impossible

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