Rowan Atkinson: Responsibility of being Mr Bean is not pleasant

MUMBAI: Actor Rowan Atkinson is globally loved for playing Mr Bean, but he says he finds portraying the character stressful and exhausting.

The 65-year-old is developing an animated film based on the popular character, but he says he finds "the weight of responsibility not pleasant", reports dailymail.co.uk.

Atkinson played the titular role in the hit series from 1990 to 1995. He also starred in the films -- Bean Movie in 1997, and Mr Bean's Holiday in 2007.

"Having made an animated TV series, we're now in the foothills of developing an animated movie for Mr Bean -- it's easier for me to perform the character vocally than visually," he said in an interview to Radio Times.

"I don't much enjoy playing him. The weight of responsibility is not pleasant. I find it stressful and exhausting, and I look forward to the end of it," he added.

He confessed that he doesn't like the "process of making anything -- with the possible exception of 'Blackadder', because the responsibility for making that series funny was on many shoulders, not just mine".

The "Johnny English" actor isn't surprised about the success of his character. "Mr Bean's success has never surprised me. Watching an adult behaving in a childish way without being remotely aware of his inappropriateness is fundamentally funny," he said.

"The fact the comedy is visual rather than verbal means it has been successful internationally, too," he added.

Atkinson wrote and starred in "Blackadder" between 1983 and 1989, and said the most optimistic he could be about a revival is that it is "certainly not impossible".