“There has always been a delicate balance between KAOS and CONTROL…”
That’s right; the long-awaited Get Smart remake hits theaters this weekend with Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway starring as Agents 86 and 99. Working for U.S. spy agency CONTROL, the duo must put a stop to the evil crime organization known as KAOS. Hollywood.com caught up with director Peter Segal and cast members Carell, Hathaway, Dwayne Johnson (Agent 23) and Alan Arkin (The Chief) to find out more about the stunts, smooches and more.
Anne Hathaway on kicking butt in heels:
“I had excellent training in The Devil Wears Prada for how to run around wearing them, so when it came time to just add some high kicks and jumps, it wasn’t that bad. Having a stunt double who did it much better than me helped though.”
Steve Carell on Anne ’s fancy footwork:
“There were several scenes in the movie where we are running toward Disney Hall at full tilt. I was running as fast as I possibly could run. Anne Hathaway was wearing four, five, six inch heels and she was kicking my ass. I have no idea how that is physically possible.” [PAGEBREAK]
Alan Arkin on improvisation:
“Me, I like to improvise. It’s my training, it’s my love but on this script, I can honestly say I think I improvised one word…nuclear. That was my one contribution.”
Anne Hathaway on working with a cast of male costars:
“I could never be annoyed with all these fine fellas up here…Some days I felt like they were trying to be very polite around me and keep the conversation to a more prim environment, and so I would just tell the dirtiest joke I could think of just to put everybody at ease.”[PAGEBREAK]
Steve Carell on making the character his own:
“I steered away from [watching the show] because I didn’t want to do an impression of Don Adams. I figured there was no way to improve upon what he had done and I thought the more I watched of him, the more I would be inclined to be an impersonation because he was so good and so definitive in the role.”
Peter Segal on his behind-the-scenes team:
“Once Steve signed onto this project, everything sort of fell into place. Everybody wanted to come and play. And because of the tone that we set out to make, which Steve and I referred to as a comedic Bourne Supremacy, we went after the people who would make those kinds of movies.” [PAGEBREAK]
Anne Hathaway on making out with Steve:
“Making out with him is like the yummiest lollipop…Dipped in sunshine…And wrapped around with a masculine wrapper. That’s the only way I can think to describe it.”
Dwayne Johnson on kissing Steve too:
“It was like, you ever have warm apple pie with cold ice cream too, and you find that balance where you’re oh, uhhh [laughs]. Um. Hey, you know, it was great, it was great. Not too many men can say that, have a nice big lip lock with Steve Carell. It was great. The length I go, the committed actor. Jake Gyllenhaal did it, Will Smith did it, I thought it was my turn to kiss a man.”[PAGEBREAK]
Steve Carell on coming up the ranks of comedy:
“Just before Jon Stewart I was unemployed. The employed part, I was on a failed TV series called Over the Top in which I played an outrageous Greek chef in a hotel. One of the reviews referred to me as Heinrich Himmler of comedy and said that Tim Curry was Hitler and every Hitler needs his henchman…You know who pointed this review out to me was Stephen Colbert, much to his delight.”
Alan Arkin on his days at the Second City comedy club:
“It was the only place; there is no place anymore you’re allowed to fail…when we were there, the audience came expecting to see 40 percent, 50 percent of what they were watching not work. They didn’t care. They knew that was part of the process.” [PAGEBREAK]
Dwayne Johnson on the original series:
“The coolest thing for me about the Get Smart series was always the, was always the comedy, and what I mean by that was always just the self-deprecating comedy, I love that. Because even with the iconic character that Don Adams created, there was still a great sense of, assuredness to him, and he was a little bit arrogant in his way and of course it was always self-deprecating also, but of course he would always get the job done too, he was very proficient as well.”
Anne Hathaway on choosing her film roles:
“I’m 25 years old and I’ve had tremendous luck in my life in terms of movies that I’ve made for artistic reasons have gone on to become commercial successes. It’s kind of dumb luck. You never know what’s going to hit.” [PAGEBREAK]
Peter Segal on what he learned from David Zuker:
“We tried to bring our own sensibilities to this and give it a different tone. What I learned from David Zuker on that is make your bad guys bad, take your plot seriously even in a comedy. We bumped that up a notch even more on this and talking to Mel Brooks about it, that’s exactly what he tried to do back in 1965. He said, ‘Let’s take 007 and just stretch it one inch further into comedy but give it all those stakes.’”
Anne Hathaway on doing her own stunts:
“Being pulled by the train was definitely our Titanic moment, if I jump, you jump. I did feel so safe all the time that the danger really never entered my mind. When I would describe to my mother what I was doing, she would have the heart attack for me. Being dropped 50 feet, being strapped to a cable having nothing but sidewalk – – well, I guess they, in the shot they did have a pad. But it was on a street in Montreal so you weren’t in a closed set so you felt a little bit more exposed, but I just remember giggling…It was so exhilarating. So yeah, we just felt so safe the whole time that it just felt like being at the best amusement park ever.” [PAGEBREAK]
Steve Carell on getting into shape:
“I worked out and made my body a physical specimen to be admired.”
Peter Segal on the iconic props used in the film:
“Well, we had to put the shoe phone in and that was tricky because how do you make something like that that’s so iconic and was really the ancestor of today’s cell phone relevant in a movie like this. The cone of silence we had to put in and ironically, one of our visual effects supervisors said that his uncle is friends with, and I can’t say his name, but someone who is very high up in the CIA. They said that the cone of silence actually existed and they used it in the American embassy in Moscow.” [PAGEBREAK]
Steve Carell on how he keeps a straight face while shooting:
“It takes editing to cut out all the times I’m laughing hysterically. That’s the long and short of it. Well, more importantly than that, I try specifically not to laugh when someone else is doing their thing because if you laugh and ruin someone else’s take, if somebody’s doing something inspired or incredibly funny, it’s a gift. To take that away by laughing and ruining it, I think that’s a cardinal sin in my mind.”
Anne Hathaway on The Office:
“To say that I am a fan of The Office is really putting it mildly. When Steve and I don’t see each other for a few weeks, my first question is of course, “What’s coming up?” I agree the season finale was awesome. I’m a true Office fan. I’m rooting for Jim and Pam. Phyllis is my favorite character. Actually, it’s changed now but my alias used to be Phyllis Vance.”
