Anne Hathaway and Friends “Get Smart” in Rome
Anne Hathaway and Friends “Get Smart” in Rome
Sure, it’s the home country of her incarcerated ex-boyfriend Raffaello Follieri, but that’s not stopping Anne Hathaway from having a great time in Rome!
Hathaway was joined by co-star Steve Carell at an Italian photo call for their hit movie “Get Smart” earlier today at the Grand Hotel Hassler. And despite all the drama going on in her life these days, she was all smiles.
Sporting a sleeveless red dress with black peep-toe heels, the “Princess Diaries” actress hammed it up with Carell (in a beige jacket, white shirt and jeans) as well as hunky Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and director Peter Segal.
“Get Smart” is a remake of the 1960s storyline in which Steve Carell plays Agent Maxwell Smart and Anne Hathaway assumes the role of his sidekick Agent 99 in a plot to save the world.
Get Smart Secrets Revealed
Things nearly got bloody as Anne Hathaway tussled with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson on the set of the upcoming Get Smart movie.
The two were shooting a fight scene when Hathaway accidentally kicked Johnson in the head with the heel of her shoe, according to the film's director, Peter Segal.
"The stunt coordinator was saying, 'Her foot will come within six inches of your face, but from this angle it will look like it connects,' ” Segal told me earlier today. “Dwayne started to say, ‘This looks closer than six inches. Are you sure she’s going to be able to pull her kick in time so she doesn’t hit me?’ The stunt coordinator said, ‘Oh, yeah; everything’s fine.' "
Luckily, Johnson wasn't hurt. “Anne was mortified and so apologetic, but he milked it,” Segal said. “He painted little bruises on his forehead and came up to her later and pretended that he was wounded.”
Hathaway also connected with costar Steve Carell. But in a much different sort of way.
"Anne is such a sick, crazy Office fan,” Segal said. “I swear to God, she knows every line from every episode. She insisted on auditioning even though we said, ‘No, it’s not really necessary.’ But then at the moment she sat down next to Steve, he started ad-libbing a little bit and then she started ad-libbing to catch up with him, and before long, I found myself feverishly writing notes of what they were saying. Later on after we hired her and we were shooting the movie, we shot a lot of those ad-libs.” (Segal promises the audition tape will be part of the eventual DVD release.)
Now about Maxwell Smart’s famous shoe phone. “At the time, the shoe phone was the coolest thing in the world,” Segal says of the original 1960s television series created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. “We didn’t have cordless phones, let alone cell phones. So now the thought of somebody actually putting a shoe to their face is kind of disgusting. But we did talk to Apple about possibly making a screen saver for iPhones. It would look like the bottom of a shoe.”
Mel Brooks on Get Smart
The Los Angeles Times has an interesting interview with Get Smart creator (and did I mention comic genius) Mel Brooks. Here are a couple highlights:
“Someone called me up and said, ‘They’re making a movie of ‘Get Smart.’’ I said, ‘Oh, really? What are they going to call it?’ They said, ‘’Get Smart.’’ I said, ‘That was wise.’ Because they did do a movie based on ‘Get Smart’ about 20 years ago called ‘The Nude Bomb’. I said, ‘That’s foolish.’ … I had nothing to do with it. They never even called me! This one, they called me from Day One. They said, “What do you think of this?” Or “What do you think of that?” And I’d say yay or nay. … It’s got a good director, Peter Segal. Wonderful director. The writers were great. The producers were young and aggressive and smart. But the brilliance is Steve Carell. To choose a guy who’s right in the Don Adams groove. You couldn’t get a better guy than Steve Carell. And yet he doesn’t do Don Adams. He does none of his delivery. He just does Steve Carell.”
You can read the full interview on LATimes.com.
WonderCon: Get Smart
Wonder-Con premiered the newly minted trailer for Get Smart, the big screen adaptation of the 1960s television series created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry that starred Don Adams and Barbara Feldman. It looked good, better than good. Now this is how you make you a trailer: mixing verbal humor, physical comedy, and large-scale action, along with callbacks to the original series, including multiple callbacks (e.g., repeated lines of dialogue).
Director Peter Segal (The Longest Yard, 50 First Dates, Anger Management) was on hand to talk about Get Smart. He started off the panel by saying he wanted to embrace the spirit of the original TV series and bring it up to date for contemporary audiences. Segal then introduced the co-stars, Anne Hathaway and Steve Carell to raucous cheers from the Wonder-Con audience. The Q&A started almost immediately.
One of the first questioners Carell asked whether he was writing anything new (he’s written several episodes of his television series, The Office). Carell said he’s not working on anything right now. As he’s just completed two weeks of jury duty in Los Angeles, he’s going to write or co-write an episode of the Office in which his character gets called on to serve on a jury. Given Carell’s track record, it promises to be hilarious.
Another Wonder-Con attendee asked Carell about whether he’d change or modulate his voice to match Don Adams’ easily recognizable delivery, especially the iconic sentences or phrases that have become synonymous with the character and the series. Hard not to do it like him, stands alone, but hard to get Adams’ voice out of his head. From what we saw and heard in the trailer, Carell’s delivery sounded like a mix between his voice and Adams’ iconic voice.
Another attendee asked about Carell’s start in improv comedy. Carell jokingly said he didn’t want to learn any lines, so improv seemed like the right way to go, but it also just started out as fun, extracurricular activity that eventually segued into comedy and acting.
Another questioner asked Carell thought about doing trying different roles? Answer: Boston Strangler. As long as I get paid, I’m fine, said Carell, but he’ll take whatever might be good or entertaining. Hathaway chimed in with Little Miss Sunshine.
Another attendee asked Hathaway what it was like to work with Carell on Get Smart. She said it was terrible, but quickly corrected herself to say she loved working with him (she was kidding, of course), generously calling Steve one of the comedic masters of our time and it was a pleasure and an honor to work with him. She did say that she was nervous improvising with Carell at first, but eventually got over it.
The next questioner asked about the for the possibility of a sequel, Segal said, “In case you like the movie, I’d like to come back for a sequel.” Segal said was a fun set, great cast., and he’d love to work with them again.
Another questioner asked about the challenges involved in remaking/adapting such a well known, well-liked TV show. Segal reiterated that he wanted to bring the Get Smart characters and their universe to new audiences, but he also wanted to include enough callbacks to the series for fans (so he didn’t really answer the question).
Someone else followed about Barbara Feldman and whether she’d make a cameo in the film, but apparently the answer is no. Other cameos from actors associated with the series have been promised, however. Segal seemed to dance around the question by saying that she never appeared on set, but perhaps she filmed her cameo separately (or not). Hathaway chimed in to say that she considers Feldman an idol and that it was daunting to step into her shoes. She described Feldman’s portrayal of Agent 99 as kind, sophisticated, smart, and elegantly sexy.
Inevitably the question about Segal would do after Get Smart. Shazam, the big screen adaptation of DC’s Captain Marvel (a.k.a., The Big Red Cheese), is still slated at his next project, but the start date has been delayed due to the writer’s strike. Screenwriter John August is back working on the script, however. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is still pegged for the role of Captain Marvel’s nemesis, Black Adam, but Segal didn’t mention any other casting decisions. Given Segal’s track record (comedies), a big-budget, effects-laden film doesn’t seem like his thing, but maybe he’ll surprise us. Hopefully, he won’t make it so kid-friendly that he’ll alienate adults and fans of the character.
Someone asked the panel what movies inspired them to get into filmmaking. Hathaway said Auntie Mame. Segal said Young Frankenstein remake. For Carell, Dr. Strangelove. Seriously. And with that, the Get Smart panel gave way to Disney (e.g., The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Wall-E).