Rowan Atkinson makes no bones about his opinion of his most internationally successful character. "I don't like Mr Bean at all. I think he's a very dislikable man. He's fun to watch, but you need to keep a distance from him. I think he'd be a horrible man to meet or have around to dinner. He's so much in his own world. At the same time, of course, that's part of the international appeal of the character - his complete obliviousness to the rest of society. The fact that he doesn't obey any social conventions whatsoever, and he does his own thing. That's fun to watch. He does things that you wish you could do yourself. That's why I enjoy playing him, and that's probably why I enjoy playing all the nasty characters I've done, because I can act out a fantasy."
For many people (including this writer) the huge success of Mr Bean is difficult to fathom. Compared to Atkinson's other creation, the sublime Blackadder, Bean seems like thin fare - a sort of cross between Jacques Tati and Frank from Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, with a streak of nastiness added. But not only has Mr Bean topped the ratings in the UK, the programme, with its purely visual slapstick humour, has proved to be one of British television's most successful exports of the last few years.
Hence Bean, the movie, and this interview with a gaggle of journalists from all over Europe in a plush London hotel. He agrees with my suggestion that, despite Bean's international popularity, he is a quintessentially English comic creation. "Yes, I think he is. He's an extremely self-centred man, and quite - well, definitely - nasty and vindictive. Absolutely a child, which is how I always think of him. If I have to imagine how Mr Bean would behave in any given situation, I think of a nine or 10-year-old boy, and I've got it. He's a child trapped in an adult's body."
Is he saying that infantile selfishness is a typically English trait? He laughs. "No, I don't think it's typical, but it's indicative of a love we do have for the kind of humour that results from that sort of character. We do love childish humour and the humour of cruelty. Blackadder, although he's verbal rather than visual, is a very cruel, self-centred character, which seems to be the kind of thing I can do quite well.
"Someone was asking me the other day what the difference was between American and British comedy. It's conspicuous how much American comedians like to be liked, and to play likeable people, whereas we don't mind playing these rather nasty sorts. The other thing is that we don't mind looking foolish, whereas American comic characters tend to seem strong and witty."
America looms large in the marketing master-plan for the movie, as it does in the plot, which involves Mr Bean ending up in California, where he wreaks havoc in an art gallery. Not only does almost the entire story take place in the US, but a subtle Americanisation of Bean's character has also taken place - for the first time he exhibits signs of a conscience, and his monomaniacal selfishness has been modulated somewhat. He even gets on well with children, for God's sake. It's clear that the American market is the prime target of the film-makers, who include Atkinson's old Not The Nine O'Clock News colleague Mel Smith in the director's chair, and Four Weddings And A Funeral's Richard Curtis on scriptwriting duty.
"Certainly this film has played very well in audience tests in the US," says Atkinson, whose one-man show's demolition at the hands of New York Times drama critic Frank Rich in 1986 still rankles. "We only lasted two weeks on Broadway because of that review, because he dismissed the whole thing as toilet humour. I don't think it was just toilet humour, and it was certainly a rather singular point of view. It wasn't a view that was reflective of American humour as a whole, because they have a great love of toilet humour or sick humour or however you want to describe it."
He agrees that the movie will appeal more to a younger audience. "We haven't necessarily aimed it at anybody - it just so happens that the research shows that it's definitely the five to 17year-olds who like it most. Seventeen to 24-year-olds need to be convinced that it's cool to like Mr Bean. If they can be convinced of that, then they'll like it."
If the movie is a success, does he view with equanimity the prospect of playing the character for many years to come? "That it would be my Inspector Clouseau or something? I hope not. I'm quite happy to do more Mr Bean things if we can always believe that we're exploring new parts of his character. In the unlikely event of us wanting to do a sequel to this film, I think it would have to be in a different context."
Whatever happens, he can't see himself making any more Bean stories for television, although he doesn't feel that movies are necessarily any better. "Obviously there's more money, but I'm not convinced that results in funnier jokes. The problem with film is that the potential time in which you can be successful is so small - you've got one week of release, and another week or two to make your mark. You've got this tiny window of opportunity to make it a success, so all these other marketing ideas start leading it - they want a bigger, more expensive joke, not because it's better, but because it imparts value for money to the audience."
Is there, therefore, a potential for classical simplicity in television that isn't available in the cumbersome process of movie-making? "Well, you don't necessarily get better performances from film, and I do enjoy the relative simplicity of television; it's relatively cheap and cheerful, and easier to work in. You can probably get more atmosphere in film, but that's less important in comedy."
Famously committed to keeping his private life entirely separate from his comedy work, Atkinson refuses to discuss his family (he is happily married with two small children). At 42, he has made enough money not to have to work if he doesn't want to, and gives the impression of not wanting to that much. "I enjoy the prospect of creative work, and I enjoy reflecting on work I have done, but I don't like the part in between. What fascinates me is the acting task. I mean, there's nothing dreadfully complicated about either Blackadder or Bean, but they are real, credible people to me."
He doesn't see himself doing much more movie work. "Other roles demand that you play yourself, and I have no interest in doing that. I'm happier playing someone quite different."
The same applies to his approach to comedy. "I can't do stand-up, because it involves extending your own personality, and that's something I just can't do. I'm generally very self-conscious about performing in a non-performing environment. I found out that I was funny through acting in sketches. It's only recently that stand-up comedy has established itself as the norm in Britain, but that's not the tradition I come from."
He is known to love fast cars, particularly Aston Martins, and has several friends in the motor-racing business, but his distant, polite public persona serves as a screen against unwanted intrusions, as do his rather loathsome creations, he admits. "There may be something about the characters I've played that leads people to be a bit suspicious of me as an individual. They think: if he has any of the characteristics of Mr Bean, then he may be worth giving a wide berth to. So they may point or giggle, but they do it from a distance, which is fine by me."
Bean is released on August 8th