Thanks to the brilliant comedic brain of Steve Carell, Maxwell Smart–the spatially challenged spy from the classic ’60s TV show–is heading to the big screen. That’s right, Warner Bros. Pictures is taking Get Smart to the modern era in the new feature film starring Carell as Agent 86, embroiled in the battle between CONTROL and CHAOS.
Directed by Peter Segal, the cast also includes Dwayne Johnson, Terry Crews, Alan Arkin, Terence Stamp, David Koechner–and Anne Hathaway as Agent 99, to give the flick a boost of young star power.
Hollywood.com visits the set to get the scoop on the film, which tells how Maxwell Smart goes from a regular office analyst to super agent. OK, maybe not super agent but an agent nonetheless. Get Smart starts after CHAOS has destroyed most of CONTROL’s main headquarters, taking many of the field agents. This turns out to be a lucky move for Max, who is quickly promoted.
“You get to see a sense of where he started within CONTROL, and how he ends up a field agent. And apparently, Mel Brooks and Buck Henry (co-creators of the original series) were quite pleased with that approach, the origin story,” says Carell.[PAGEBREAK]
Being involved in the day-to-day script changes is also something Carell enjoys while on set. “The whole process has been incredibly fun because the script as it existed was, I think, very strong and has a lot of strengths to it. But everyday, we’re finding new angles and new jokes and even within these big action scenes, we’re finding moments that didn’t exist on the page that are funny and disarming and surprising.
“And the writers and Pete have been incredibly welcoming and encouraging of input and in terms of the play–we get to improv. I think there’s a real freedom to fail on this movie; we’re throwing things out there, and if they don’t work, they don’t work, but we get to try a number of different versions of a particular scene just to see if it does work. And we’ve found some. Let’s put it this way, everyday, there’s something that makes me laugh really hard. And it was interesting watching the cut footage because I knew at that point we had a lot of funny material, but what really shocked me was it looks exciting, and it looks like a big action movie that’s really funny. When people saw that, they got charged up; everyone who’s seen it is very excited.”[PAGEBREAK]
While on set, we witness the making of an action scene–the plain yellow lights turned to blue, illuminating the room. David Koechner and Terry Crews trade insults with Carell, calling his character “Maxine” and “Maxipad.” Carell’s comeback is, “Oh, Maxipad, that’s original, like I’ve never heard that one before.” From three or four different angles, they shoot the same scene, with Smart always getting the short end of the stick. But in the end, Carell gets the better of Koechner.[PAGEBREAK]
To get the action scenes perfect, director Peter Segal hires stunt coordinator James Lew. Dwayne Johnson knows working with him that the fight sequences would be outstanding.
“I spent a couple of hours rehearsing the action sequences we’re going to do to make sure there are no injuries and everybody knows where everybody is supposed to be. Stuff like that helped me for the action you see today; there was a lot of rehearsal which was great. Pete and James believe in rehearsal, getting all the actors together. You pick different scenes where we’re all together and you bounce off each other and see what works and what doesn’t. That’s the beauty and importance of rehearsal, I believe. There’s a lot of big explosions, and a good amount of violence in it.”
Being his character is new to the Get Smart milieu, Johnson is able to have a little more freedom in coming up with Agent 23’s persona. “He’s the world’s greatest agent; Agent 23 is this incredible agent. He has this tremendous relationship with Max. He’s like my little brother; he looks up to me and I look out for him. We have a wonderful relationship and you see a bond between Max and Agent 23 that starts to grow in many ways throughout the movie.”[PAGEBREAK]
Also getting into the action is Anne Hathaway. “Anne has been outstanding; she’s incredibly talented,” notes Johnson. “She’s gorgeous and she’s very, very funny as well. That’s a nod to her ability and her security that she’s able to be self-deprecating. She’s great and you’ll see that in this movie. She’s a trooper; when it was time to go to work action-wise, she was all for it at all costs. She didn’t want to use a double; she was terrific. As a matter of fact, we have a past in the movie. We had a relationship in the past, Agents 23 and 99, so I was a lucky man! 99 is hot, that never changes with 99. She was hot then and she’s hot now.”
As we all know, Agents 86 and 99 have their own relationship on the show–but it isn’t always as cozy as it seems. In the big-screen version, it takes a bit of convincing for Maxwell to convince her to hook up with him.
“Yeah, that’s pretty much the common sort of relationship; she has no respect for him because he’s an analyst and he’s not a field agent to start with. So, there’s a little bit of an inversion there because she really is the one with experience and she is the one who takes the lead and there is a bit of friction because he’s quite competent in his own right, and he wants to take the lead and so there’s a little battle of wills. It’s fun, they’re friendly adversaries to begin with. She’s an excellent 99. One of the things that surprised me about her is that she’s an excellent improviser and that she’s really funny and she’s very, very cool. On screen, she comes across as a very competent super-spy, and she just brings this attitude with her on screen. And then as soon as the cameras are off, she’s just as silly and crazy as anyone you’d meet on the set. I think she’s doing an excellent job.”[PAGEBREAK]
We also have the chance to speak with the writers of the film, Tom Astle and Matt Ember–long time fans of the original series. They tell us how even from the beginning, Carell’s only request about his character is that he isn’t a complete goof. “He didn’t want to play a bumbling guy; he’s very smart,” explains Ember.
The movie also takes liberties of the classic ‘60s TV show and is not just a modern update. “It’s a nice chance to re-create the character,” says Astle. But he adds, “By the time you’re not even half way into this movie, you’re well into the characters we all remember. It doesn’t get any better than this; this show is why we’re in comedy.”
You can see all the action and laughs when Get Smart hit theaters June 20.
