Mike Myers chats Shep Gordon

Mike Myers spent 20 years "hounding" the subject of his new movie.

The Austin Powers actor has made his directorial debut with Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon, a documentary about legendary music manager Shep Gordon. The two men have been friends for years, but it took Mike a long time to convince Shep to step into the limelight himself.

"He is one of the most loved, if not the most loved person in show business I've ever met," the 51-year-old told British newspaper The Guardian. "It's been 20 years of me hounding him to make this movie."

Shep has managed the likes of Alice Cooper, Blondie and Luther Vandross during his career. And it was because of the Schools Out singer that the two men first met, on the set of Wayne's World in 1991.

"I'd written Alice Cooper into the movie two weeks before we were about to start shooting. I'd never been in a movie and was told: there's a problem with Alice Cooper; you have to meet his manager. I was like, 'Ugh, who is this dude, what does he want, why am I meeting him?' It seemed all very Spinal Tap, you know?" Mike recalled.

Shep asked Mike to change the song that Alice was to sing, and when he initially denied the request, the talent manager quickly countered about the movie's tight filming schedule and how Mike had no choice.

"Wasn't his first day! Was my first day, clearly," Mike laughed. "And he was so nice about it! Not confrontational, not heavy, but he had all the leverage in the world. And I said, 'This guy's cool.'"

The two formed a friendship, and after the comedian's dad died, he went to stay at Shep's home in Hawaii.

"He literally cooked breakfast, lunch, dinner every day," he recalled. "He's a fantastic cook. And during that time, I just asked him questions about showbusiness and realised that he knew everybody."