Steve Carell Interview - SciFi Weekly: Get Smart

From SciFi Channel's SciFi Weekly:

http://www.scifi.com/sfw/interviews/sfw19007.html

(Please follow the link for the complete interview.)

INTERVIEWS

June 16, 2008

Steve Carell and company update Mel Brooks and Buck Henry's classic spy spoof, Get Smart

By Patrick Lee



Get Smart—a feature-film reboot of Mel Brooks and Buck Henry's classic '60s spy-spoof TV show—is being described as a comedic version of The Bourne Supremacy by its makers.

By that, they mean to remain faithful to the show's satirical tone while grounding the action, suspense and peril in reality.

The Office's Steve Carell takes over the role of fumbling superspy Maxwell Smart in director Peter Segal's movie, a role originated by Don Adams. Carell is joined by Anne Hathaway in the role of Smart's capable partner, Agent 99—a role first played by Barbara Feldon. Carell's Little Miss Sunshine co-star Alan Arkin plays the Chief of CONTROL, the supersecret agency battling KAOS.

The cast and filmmakers spoke with reporters a few weeks ago in Beverly Hills, Calif., about Get Smart, which opens June 20.


A brief excerpt:

Did you go back and look at the episodes of the TV show, or did you steer away from that to make the characters your own?

Carell: I steered away from it, 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 him, the more I would be inclined to do an impersonation, because he was so good and so definitive in the role. So, no, I sort of backed off on that.

Arkin: In making it my own? I made the choice 30 years ago of not watching the show, so—it was easy. [Laughter.]

Hathaway: I actually grew up watching the show on Nick at Night and loved it, so it was really fun to revisit it. I wanted to revisit it, because I was actually one of the last people cast, so I, unfortunately, [missed] the whole collaboration—"This is the movie we're making"— ... and I wanted to make sure that I understood where we were, what tone we were trying to achieve, and I really think that in the final product we've managed to have that silly, sweet, yet sophisticated feel that the original series had.