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Anne Hathaway on Set!

by Lynn B

A lot of fans think of gorgeous, tall brunette Anne Hathaway as a modern style icon. Anne has come a long way since portraying a geeky gal turned royalty in The Princess Diaries. We loved her in The Devil Wears Prada, and Becoming Jane. This summer, Anne goes into action as hot Agent 99, the superspy galpal of dorky agent Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell) in the bigscreen version of the popular 1960’s spy spoof TV series Get Smart.

A few months ago, we got to visit the L.A. area sets for the movie and watch a few scenes being shot including a big gurlpower action sequence for Anne! On the Warner Brothers lot, inside a huge soundstage, we saw the actress running from a badguy henchman with Steve Carell by her side as they duck from a flying door and try to fight back. Between set-ups, Anne came over to chat. Picture the actress in skinny black jeans and beige sweater over black tee.

AGW: How long do you have to shoot this fight scene?

Anne: We’re going to be doing it for another three days. For me, it’s a three-part fight sequence. I’ve lost my gun in an earlier scene and I pick up a pipe as a weapon and then I have to battle him hand to hand and then I just sort of get dazed and confused. My favorite bit is when I get to run up a wall and turn around and punch him. And then I bake some cupcakes, you know [we laugh].

AGW: Yeah. Just another day at the office. When you were cast in the movie, did you get every episode of the old show and watch them all?

Anne: No, because when I was about eight or nine, I guess “Nick at Night” had bought the TV series and started playing them over and over. So, it was my favorite series! I used to watch it every day basically because it was in syndication. My cousin and I would play 99 and Max. I grew up spending my summers in Cape Bay, New Jersey so we would ride off on our bikes and beat up KAOS agents that were in real life trees. So it was a huge part of my life growing up. My mom and her family used to watch it together when she was growing up. It really is a childhood dream come true. As an adult, I never imaged anything would come of my love for the show from when I was a child.

AGW: Agent 99, played by Barbara Feldon in the old series, was kind of a hot icon in her day. Did you meet her?

Anne: No I haven’t met her. [I’ve heard] that she approved of my casting and was actually very happy with it and that made me feel very good. So I feel like I have the blessing of the icon and that’s part of the battle.

AGW: In the old series, “99” was more of like the straight reactionary. Does your character get any zingers in this movie?

Anne: Yeah. We all loved the original series and you will not find bigger fans than us. We all decided we wanted to be very respectful while, at the same time, wanting to put our own mark on the film. We decided to respect the spirit of 99. She was a fully realized woman of her time. So, we put her in 2008 and I do get some zingers. I’m a little bit of a hell-raiser and hopefully, we also retain some of the elegance of the original character.

AGW: This is the first big action we’ve seen you do on film. Have you been looking for this sort of action role for a while?

Anne: I don’t usually go out there and say ‘okay, now it’s time to do an action role, now it’s time to win an Oscar’, just because the latter will probably never happen and the former, who would have thought it? So this one just sort of fell from the sky. I never expected to get it. I just really wanted to meet Steve Carell, which is why I auditioned, and you can imagine my shock when I got the role.

AGW: What sort of training have you had to do?

Anne: A lot of martial arts training, just general conditioning. I wanted to get some dance in to try to get the grace of the character but that sort of fell by the wayside. So I’ve been trying to do it on my own. I also, for a second, thought about doing some improv comedy training but I just thought it was probably better to let Steve take care of that and just try to keep a straight face.

AGW: What’s the relationship between 99 and Max in this movie?

Anne: What they decided was that 99 would already be an established agent and one of the best that Control has. So Max has heard about her for years not realizing she was a woman and she’s been away on deep cover. She comes back, they meet and through a series of circumstances they’re assigned as each other’s partners. So, in the beginning, 99 is a superior agent. She has more experience and, as a result, she’s a little disdainful of Max but, as he starts to win her over, you start to see the chemistry that made the original series so wonderful come out.

AGW: Is it hard holding a straight face when Steve starts to improvise?

Anne: Yes. Yes, it is but I think that’s the reason why I got the role was because in audition I was able to. It’s almost impossible to keep up with him and match him joke for joke because he’s a genius at it. It’s what he’s known for. So I don’t ever beat myself up for not being able to match him beat for beat but in the audition I was able to keep a straight face as he just went off and was making everyone else crack up, so I think that got me through the door.

AGW: Have you done anything that’s made him crack up?

Anne: Not on camera. We’ve only shot a couple of our scenes where we really kind of connect and there’s a lot of dialogue. A lot of our stuff so far has been mainly stunt work where it’s just little lines here and there. You know, kind of thrown off at each other and he usually comes up with about 30 brilliant ones and I can barely remember the one that’s been written down for me.

AGW: Are you a fan of Steve in “The Office” on TV?

Anne: Oh, a huge one actually. I’m always worried that Steve is going to someday come to my trailer to ask me a question and realize that I’m actually stalking him because I have it TiVo’d up the wazoo and I’m always watching it when I have 5 seconds. It’s one of my favorite series. I was a fan of the British version and I think the American one is done so brilliantly.

AGW: Can you talk about the costumes in the film? Are they modern or more ‘60’s?

Anne: We have many costume changes. Some logical, some not, which is one of the fun things about making a big old action movie. All my costumes have a nod to the 60’s while, at the same time, everything’s contemporary. That’s sort of the look that Deb Scott [costume designer] was going for. This outfit today originally had 5” stiletto boots and we just thought ‘oh, that’s going to look so great’ and then I tried fighting in them and it wasn’t so great!

AGW: I can only imagine! Is 99 usually dressed high fashion, even when doing martial arts action?

Anne: We just assume that 99 has backpacks dropped all over Russia for her so that’s why she can pull couture out of a hat. It’s stealthy. We figure she has things stapled to the bottoms of tables and goes to pick them up. That’s our back story. You can come up with your own. That’s the fun of movie-making.

AGW: Do you get to play with any cool spy gadgets?

Anne: Yes, yes, I do! Max’s shoe phone is in the movie. Actually there’s a little bit of a gadget competition between Max and 99 to see who had the cooler stuff and he’s friends with the techies so, for a while, it looks like he’s going to win but then I pull some cool stuff out too.

AGW: It sounds like you would look forward to doing a sequel.

Anne: Oh, I would. It’s wonderful. The people couldn’t be nicer, couldn’t be funnier. Everybody’s really family-oriented and down to earth and, at the same time, really, really extraordinary at their jobs. I’m just totally satisfied. I’m playing a woman who can kick [backside] and have perfect hair! I have nothing to complain about on this job.

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