I just finished filming in Macau for a few days with an actor you probably have heard of who goes by the name of Rowan Atkinson.

Now, if you’re not in the film industry then I forgive you for not knowing who he is and for those of you who may not have heard of him he’s the indelible character known as Mr. Bean and I had the pleasure of being in his company during the course of our filming a Chinese comedy film.

Mr. Bean has charmed and entertained millions of people. He portrays a bumbling man, who wears a tweed jacket and a red tie, who goes around solving various problems while causing disruption in the process. The character made numerous episodes which lasted across a good decade and which spun off an animated series and two feature films.

Creating such a character resorted mainly in the use of body gestures and a few mumbled words here and there, and relied purely on physical comedy which allowed it to impact a world wide audience in the process.

I asked Rowan about his creation of the character and how it came to be such a fascination. One of his explanations is that Mr. Bean is a child trapped in an adult body and who has a childish fascination in everything he sees and does. And as adults we can relate to that since we all have that hidden inner child within us.

As adults we feel obligated to follow the norms of life. To stick to the natural way of how things should be done, whereas Mr. Bean resorts to unusual solutions to differing situations on his journey of discovery.

And that led me to the simple fact of what Mr. Bean truly stands for – in one word – Curiosity.

His curiosity for life is what makes the character so loveable. Having no rules to which to adhere to and having the ability to approach and do things that most of us wouldn’t even dream of doing is the way we should all aim to perform in our lives.

Giving way to the curious mind.

As kids we all had a curious mind.

A mind of seeing things differently to what adults told us to adhere to.

A mind of doing things carelessly to how our teaches tried to avert us from.

That curious mind eventually began to wane thin and gradually as we got older fizzled out completely and made us what we are – The normal, average human beings we are today.

Picasso said that its not about learning but about unlearning what we were taught as we grew up. It’s getting out of our own way and releasing the obstructions from our true natures path which is what Mr. Bean is all about.
Thinking differently; doing things differently; acting differently; writing differently;
being different

And that my film rebel friends is what film should be about.

Crave that curious mind and go out there and be curious – be a Bean Rebel.