Steve Carell & Cast Interview, Get Smart

It's time to talk Get Smart with the whole gang of the film adaptation of the hit show! MoviesOnline sat down with Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, Alan Arkin, and director Peter Segal at the Los Angeles press day for their new movie, “Get Smart,” based on the iconic show from the 1960s that was inspired by the savvy humor of comedy mavericks Mel Brooks and Buck Henry.

“Our goal was to embrace the spirit of what Mel and Buck created and bring it to a new generation. The movie pays homage to the touchstones of the series:  its irreverence, political satire and some of the catchphrases that are now part of our culture,” says Segal, “but with a fresh story, a 2008 point of view, and a style and energy all its own. The idea was to make a movie that offers as much to new viewers as longtime fans and, bottom line, to just make it funny as hell so it doesn’t matter if you know the history or not.”

The action comedy sends CONTROL agent Maxwell Smart (Carell) on his most dangerous and important mission:  to thwart the latest plot for world domination by the evil crime syndicate known as KAOS.

When the headquarters of secret U.S. spy agency CONTROL is attacked and the identities of its agents compromised, the Chief (Arkin) has no choice but to promote his ever-eager analyst Maxwell Smart, who has always dreamt of working in the field alongside his idol, stalwart superstar Agent 23 (Dwayne Johnson). Smart is partnered instead with the only other agent whose identity has not been compromised:  the lovely-but-lethal veteran Agent 99 (Hathaway).

As Smart and 99 get closer to unraveling KAOS’ master plan – and each other – they discover the key KAOS operative Siegfried (Terence Stamp) and his sidekick, Shtarker (Ken Davitian), are scheming to cash in with their network of terror. With no field experience and little time, Smart – armed with nothing but a few spy-tech gadgets and his unbridled enthusiasm – must defeat KAOS if he is to save the day.

Here’s what the director and cast had to tell us about their adventures:

MoviesOnline: Anne, how did you kick butt in heels, and was it fun or annoying being the only girl?

ANNE HATHAWAY: Annoying, no. No, no, no, I could never be annoyed with all these fine fellas up here. Especially you [Carell]. It was such a delight. I feel like I was so indulged on the set every day by these guys being the only girl. It was fun. 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. As for the high 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.

MoviesOnline: Steve, can you talk about the challenges of dancing with the large lady?

STEVE CARELL: I think the challenge was hers. She's actually a fantastic dancer and I am not, so I think the inherent challenge there was to try to make me look good. And if I may comment about the high heels for Anne, 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.

MoviesOnline: Did you look at the TV show or stay away?

STEVE 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 of him, the more I would be inclined to be an impersonation because he was so good and so definitive in the role. So no, I sort of backed off of that.

ALAN ARKIN: In making it my own, I made the choice 30 years ago, not watching the show. It was easy.

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

MoviesOnline: Were there blends or bumps blending action and comedy?

PETER SEGAL: Not at all. 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 kind of movies. I've worked with Dean Semler several times. Deb Scott the costume designer won her Oscar for “Titanic.” Because we knew the show had an iconic look, the fashion back then was so sharp and the '60s permeates a lot of fashion throughout the decades, unlike let's say the '70s. So we went after as primo a cast behind the scenes as we had in front of the cameras, because we knew what kind of tone we were trying to set.

MoviesOnline: Anne, how do you select your roles? Is there pressure to live up to iconic roles like Prada?

ANNE HATHAWAY: I think Meryl had the iconic role. I think I was just the one who was kind of keeping the story moving and trying to keep the audience entertained while she was off screen. 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 that have gone on to become commercial successes. It's kind of dumb luck. You never know what's going to hit. Some movies that you think will have mass appeal flop. Other movies you think will be in a - - I never know if it's [NICH] or [NEESH] but I'm just gonna go with [Neeshe] niche. You think it's going to be limited, make its money back and it goes on and way outgrosses any of your other films. The process is you just try to pick the best you can from what's available and you try to work with people that inspire you. That's just about it.

MoviesOnline: How much did Steve and Alan stick to script?

STEVE CARELL: Our writer's here on the end, and I can say that I improvised everything. It was I think a mix. We stuck to the script but there were options and there were chances to play and see what other - - and in collaboration with Pete and the writers and the cast. We would come up with alternatives because you never know in the final outcome what will or won't work. So we tried to give ourselves some options on various takes.

ALAN ARKIN: 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.

ANNE HATHAWAY: Do you remember the word?

ALAN ARKIN: Yeah, nuclear. That was my one contribution. I was not only bowled over by what Matt and Tom did, but the development from draft to draft I found really amazing. These guys put in a 40-hour week. Matt told me they go to work at nine and they stop at five. I couldn't believe that. I never knew a writer that did that, except to take a drink once in a while, but these guys don’t seem to do that.

MoviesOnline: How much of “Second City” do you keep with you, and what were you doing just before Jon Stewart?

STEVE CARELL: 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 the Heinrich Himmler of comedy and said that Tim Curry was Hitler and every Hitler needs his henchman.

ALAN ARKIN: But you don't pay any attention to reviews.

STEVE CARELL: You know who pointed this review out to me was Stephen Colbert. Much to his delight and it was years later when we were working on “The Daily Show.” He said, "Did you ever see this?" And he brought it up online. It was the funniest review because the reviewer went on to say, "I have experienced pain in my life. I have witnessed the agony of childbirth." It went on and on and then likened the premiere episode of “Over the Top” to all of those experiences. So that's what I was doing before “The Daily Show.” “Second City,” I carry that experience with me always. Alan Arkin is a huge idol for me. As one of the originators, the genesis of “Second City,” he's legendary obviously. The best thing for me about “Second City” was having that freedom to fail night after night. To be able to try things and experiment and attempt without being too precious about it and knowing that if it didn't work, you could always try something different the next day. That's a very freeing kind of thing to have. 

ALAN ARKIN: I have exactly the same as what Steve said. It was the only place, there is no place anymore you're allowed to fail. Failure is now a moral issue. Somehow it's worked its way into that insane place in history but when we were there, the audience came expecting to see 40%, 50% of what they were watching not work. They didn't care. They knew that was part of the process. It was like having 20 years of experience every year. It was amazing and I don't like clubs particularly, organizations but every time there's a meeting between two people, I think that's true of everybody who's ever been to “Second City,” we're all iconoclasts for 40 years, but you see another person from the group and it's a brotherhood. It's an amazing brotherhood. It's an extraordinary place.

MoviesOnline: You play such deadpan characters, what does it take to make you break?

STEVE CARELL: Oh, 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. But there are some times you just can't help yourself. There's a scene in the movie when Alan is trying to pronounce a name at the cone of silence sequence. The scene probably took five times longer than it should've because I couldn't control myself. So I took that gift from Alan. That just killed me.

ANNE HATHAWAY: That was really fun because I break all the time with Steve and most of my scenes were with Steve, so when he finally broke, it was such sweet vindication for me.

ALAN ARKIN: I'm actually laughing in the movie. There's a shot of me where I'm laughing at you in the movie. I was humiliated beyond my wildest hopes.

MoviesOnline: You were laughing after ‘sucker punch to the gonads.’

ALAN ARKIN: I remember, it was at the table. You can see me going.

MoviesOnline: Is this like “The Naked Gun” and what are the challenges of this type of comedy?

PETER SEGAL: Well, I think “Naked Gun” is the hardest kind of movie to do by far. What the Zucker Brothers created with “Airplane,” it's a real ballet of comedy. It looks easy but it's absolutely the hardest to do. Four jokes per page, so the scripts for those movies, that particular script was I think 135 pages but the movie was fairly short because like with “Second City,” you just don't know what's going to work. So we test a lot. With this movie, because I had done that film and because Steve had also worked with David Zucker on a television project, we both said, "We can't go back there again." Because Naked Gun was inspired by Get Smart, so it would just be recycling upon itself. We tried to bring our own sensibilities to this and give it a different tone. What I learned from David Zucker 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." If you look back at the series almost half a century ago, it was a fairly expensive show for its time. Single camera, they went on locations, there was a little bit of action. Compared to the other kinds of comedies that were on the air at that time, it was very unique and different so we just tried to take that and broaden it on the big screen.

MoviesOnline: Steve, how much physical preparation did you do?

STEVE CARELL: Well, I worked out and made my body a physical specimen to be admired and fine tempered steel is what most people - - I tried not to get killed was my MO in this. The most dangerous stunt, I probably don't know really which the most dangerous one was.

MoviesOnline: Strapped to the train?

STEVE CARELL: Perhaps. There's a scene in which we're riding a banner behind a moving SUV. So we were on a platform. We weren't hooked in to anything and just being pulled down train tracks riding on top of this platform. That probably, the only reason I think it was dangerous was because everyone said, "Okay, are you ready to go? Good, okay, let's go. Let's do it." Then we just did it. But the safety crews, everybody was great. I never felt that anything was in jeopardy and the stunt people did the really heavy lifting and did a great job.

ANNE HATHAWAY: Yeah, 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 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. You would just kind of laugh and I had to put my head down because I was laughing so hard, it was just such a rush, it was just lovely, lovely. 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.

MoviesOnline: Who's a sexier costar, Steve Carell or Kate Hudson?

ANNE HATHAWAY: Alan Arkin.

ALAN ARKIN: What was the question?

MoviesOnline: How is “Bride Wars” going?

ANNE HATHAWAY: Oh, “Bride Wars” is great. We have two days left. We were filming outside in New York the other day. I don’t usually have to deal with a lot of paparazzi attention but Kate does. There were, I kid you not, 50 paparazzi on the street and we had to call off the shot because they wouldn't get out of the way and so we had to find a different location. But, it was so funny to go from this very, very male universe to go to estrogenland on “Bride Wars.” Some days I feel sorry for the director because he is literally the only guy for miles. But it's fun, it's a totally different kind of comedy and to go from playing Agent 99 who is a very, very intimidating, powerful woman, and then my character in “Bride Wars” is kind of, I think she's a lot more of a little girl. She's a girly girl. She likes being pretty. She gets her hair done, she gets her nails done, totally different from me. It's nice to just be able to go to all these different worlds and work with great people.

MoviesOnline: Are you a fanatical “Office” fan? What was it like to make out with Steve?

ANNE HATHAWAY: Well.

STEVE CARELL: I'm interested in this.

ANNE HATHAWAY: You were there, you know. 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. I just love the show so much. I love humor that kind of makes you feel uncomfortable and that show is so brilliant at it. It's so different than the British one and it’s found its kind of own American voice and I really relate to it. Anyway, all the reasons that everybody loves “The Office,” I love “The Office.” Actually, when I went to audition for this movie, I didn’t think in a million years I was going to get the part. I really just wanted to meet Steve. And I did and it went well. Making out with him is like the yummiest lollipop.

STEVE CARELL: You are so full of it.

ANNE HATHAWAY: Dipped in sunshine.

STEVE CARELL: Stop it.

ANNE HATHAWAY: And wrapped around in with a masculine wrapper. That's the only way I can think to describe it.

MoviesOnline: But you were sick on the day?

ANNE HATHAWAY: Okay, so you've got to hear this. So that day, that was the day of the train tracks. Somehow there was a health scare last year. A certain contact solution, I won't say the name of it, but it was the one that I used, gave you conjunctivitis. And I had a sinus infection at the same time so I had to go up to Steve, my eye is red, puffy and dripping green. I am just snotty and I'm just like, "Come here." And the worst thing was we didn't know that I had conjunctivitis at the time, so I had to call our producer Alex Gartner that night and say, "Yeah, you might want to call Steve and let him know I had pinkeye and my tears kind of got in my mouth so he might want to worry about that." So it was very glamorous and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

MoviesOnline: Did you get pinkeye, Steve?

STEVE CARELL: No, I didn't.

MoviesOnline: What about updating the gadgets?

PETER SEGAL: 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. These were plastic cones, one cone that went over the people and they played music inside so that the conversation couldn't possibly be picked up by bugs. As usual, they said, it didn't work. So we had to try to figure out a way to put those in and if you've already seen it, you know how we did it and it was kind of tricky but we did a lot of research and Matt and Tom were fantastic. Matt is so annoyingly detailed in his research. He always is on the internet looking up things that exist, so almost everything in the movie is based on some kind of reality. So we came up with a few of our own gadgets to go along with some of the iconic ones.

MoviesOnline: What were Buck Henry and Mel Brooks' involvement?

PETER SEGAL: We talked to Mel and Buck and also Leonard Stern several times to get their ideas and opinions. Mel was busy doing “Young Frankenstein on Broadway.” Buck has been battling some illness and Leonard is still fantastically vital and going strong and came to the set several times. It was very nerve wracking to be working with these legends because we all have such, well all except apparently one person, such fondness for the original series.

ALAN ARKIN: I would have had a fondness for it. If I had seen it, I would have liked it.

PETER SEGAL: There was no Tivo back then. And I have to say, Mel and Buck recently saw it within the last two weeks. When Mel called me and he was going on and on and raving about it, I said, "Mel, you have no idea how much I've looked forward to and dreaded this phone call for the past two years." But you can't do something like this without consulting who we refer to as the three kings.

MoviesOnline: Steve, how much longer will you stay on “The Office”?

STEVE CARELL: I have at least three more seasons.

MoviesOnline: Would you stay if they wanted you?

STEVE CARELL: Beyond that? I have no idea.

MoviesOnline: What's next for Alan?

ALAN ARKIN: I just finished something two days ago. It's called “The Private Lives of Pippa Lee.”

MoviesOnline: TV?

ALAN ARKIN: No, it's a film.

MoviesOnline: A remake?

ALAN ARKIN: No.

MoviesOnline: Who's in it?

ALAN ARKIN: Robin Wright, Winona Ryder, Keanu Reeves and Blake Lively.

“Get Smart” opens in theaters on June 20th.