Goldmember

Johann van der Smut
Austin Powers character
First appearance	Austin Powers in Goldmember
Last appearance	Austin Powers in Goldmember
Created by	Mike Myers
Portrayed by	Mike Myers John Travolta (in film-within-film)
Information
Aliases	Goldmember
Gender	Male
Occupation	Agents
Nationality	Dutch

Johan van der Smut, better known as Goldmember, is a fictional character in the third film of the Austin Powers trilogy, Austin Powers in Goldmember.^[1] He is played by Mike Myers. The character was partially inspired by the James Bond villain Auric Goldfinger. He serves as one of two main antagonists of the film.^[2]

Character

Dutch (specifically, from Holland)-born Van der Smut is fascinated with gold. After losing his genitals in a smelting accident in the 1970s, he becomes known as "Goldmember".

Van der Smut teams up with Dr. Evil in 2002 to conquer the world. They plan to use the tractor beam which Goldmember had created to drag a gold asteroid onto the polar ice field and cause a flood.

After Dr. Evil switches sides after it is revealed he and Austin are brothers, Goldmember interrupts the moment and declares that he will destroy the world himself. When Foxxy Cleopatra throws the key away, he reveals that he had replaced his genitals with a duplicate copy of the key. He attempts to activate the tractor beam with the spare key but is stopped by Austin Powers and Dr. Evil when they reverse the polarity in the system. Shocked by the electrical feedback, Goldmember falls to the deck of the submarine, where he is arrested by Foxxy.

Characteristics

Goldmember has suffered extensive skin damage from being overexposed in tanning booths, and has a habit of eating dead skin that peels off (dermatillomania), or placing them in the 'skin box' with the intention to eat them later. He can dislocate his legs with relative ease (presumably due to his missing genitals), effectively allowing him to kick Foxxy (who for some reason, keeps attempting to hold him at bay by sneaking up behind, putting Goldmember at gunpoint) from behind multiple times in the movie, although he seems to dislike having to do this. Goldmember is also a reigning champion of disco dancing.

Often, he talks to his armpits in a ritual-like fashion, usually whispering proper sources of certain phrases for copyright purposes. For example, after saying "And that's the way, uh-huh uh-huh, I like it," quietly comments to the side "KC and the Sunshine Band."

He paints his victims' genitals gold, a reference to Bond villain Auric Goldfinger's trademark of covering his victims in gold and suffocating them.

References

1. Ebert, Roger. "Austin Powers in Goldmember Movie Review (2002)". Roger Ebert. Retrieved 2015-03-06.
2. "Austin Powers In Goldmember ( Cert 12) | Daily Mail Online". Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-03-06.