Rowan Atkinson persuaded Rolls-Royce to create one-off Phantom Coupe for movie

Rowan Atkinson managed to persuade Rolls-Royce to create a one-off Phantom Coupe to appear in his flick Johnny English Reborn. 

The 69-year-old actor played hapless MI7 agent Johnny English in the movie franchise of the same name. 

Of course, being a British spy, English needed a swish motor – and there are few cars more swish than a Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe, right?

READ MORE! ‘Mr Bean’ is selling his Lancia Delta Integrale for less than you think

Rowan Atkinson is a huge Rolls-Royce fan

So when the time came to film the sequel to the 2003 movie, Atkinson made sure that was exactly what his character had. 

“There’s something about Rolls-Royce and the experience of driving them that I just love,” the star said. 

“I think it’s the fact that they’re just lovely. It’s just a lovely experience getting from A to B.”

Needless to say, the car looked amazing on screen and the story of how it came to be in the sequel Johnny English Reborn is a pretty interesting one. 

In case you didn’t know, the Mr Bean star is quite the petrolhead – in fact, he happens to boast one of the best car collections in Hollywood, which includes a 1997 McLaren. 

The actor also owned a highly sought-after Lancia Delta Integrale until he sold it back in 2023. 

The Phantom was a complete one-off

Due to his love of the brand, Atkinson was able to pull a few strings at Rolls-Royce and managed to get a complete one-off created. 

Pretty impressive.

While the Phantom may have looked the same as any other on the outside, it was actually fitted with an experimental nine-liter V16 engine – making it totally unique.

For reference, a standard Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe – if you could ever call such a car ‘standard’ – has a 6.75-liter V-12 engine. 

Car-lover Atkinson personally reached out to the luxury car manufacturer to get the ‘experimental’ vehicle made. 

“I managed to persuade Rolls-Royce to dig out this ludicrous engine, this nine-litre V16, and it worked,” Atkinson told the New Zealand Herald. 

“It’s a real car and it really goes and it is unbelievably quick, but it’s a one-off experimental thing. But it’s a genuine delight.”

You can say that again.