When legendary treasures from around the world are stolen, including the priceless Pink Panther Diamond, Chief Inspector Dreyfus is forced to assign Clouseau to a team of international detectives and experts charged with catching the thief and retrieving the stolen artifacts.
After Steve Martin successfully reinvigorated the legendary Pink Panther comedy franchise in the 2006 hit The Pink Panther, a sequel became a happy consequence for the actor. “I love playing Clouseau,” says Martin. “I had to brush up on the accent a bit, but other than that, it was like a visit from a familiar friend. This role gives me a chance to do broad physical comedy; Clouseau is truly an exaggerated character, innocent and childlike. At the same time, he thinks he’s on top of every situation, which I think is always funny. So when the opportunity for the sequel came along, naturally, the answer was yes.”
Producer Robert Simonds observes that Martin is the film’s not-so-secret weapon. “Steve completely embodies this character, bringing so much more to it than is even on the page – and since he co-wrote the script, there’s a tremendous amount on the page as is,” he says. “We would not have made a sequel if Steve weren’t driving it. He understands Clouseau. He writes for Clouseau. He creates the world. Part of the burden of doing a sequel is that you must make it bigger, better, funnier, fresher than the first one. We’ve worked really hard to make sure that we’ve taken the characters, the sense of fun and everything that we liked about the first movie to the next level.”
Read the Full Production Notes
The Pink Panther 2
Starring: Steve Martin, Jean Reno, Emily Mortimer, Andy Garcia, John Cleese, Alfred Molina, Molly Sims, Aishwarya Rai, Yuki Matsuzaki
Directed by: Harald Zwart
Screenplay by: Lowell Ganz
Release Date: February 6, 2009
MPAA Rating: PG for some suggestive humor, brief mild language and action.
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Box Office Totals
Domestic: $35,922,978 (49.2%)
Foreign: $37,108,397 (50.8%)
Total: $73,031,375 (Worldwide)