Steve and Anne

“Get Smart”

by Lynn Barker

Whether you’ve seen the classic TV series on Nick at Nite or on DVD or not, if you like action, comedy, Anne Hathaway, Steve Carell and “The Rock” Dwayne Johnson, you’ll want to take your BFFs and hit the multi-plex for Get Smart.

Anne and Steve play spies on a mission who bicker, kick major fanny, bicker, flirt and…fall for each other all with tongue-in-cheek glee. Anne also gets to wear a really hot retro-1960’s style wardrobe. When we met with the two actors recently in Beverly Hills, Anne was very classy in off-white, V-neck cap-sleeved crepe blouse, skinny black pants and high black sandal-heels. Steve always looks dapper when we chat with him. We wonder if the guy actually ever wears “grubbies”. Today, he’s in dark, pin-stripe jacket over a crisp dark blue shirt.

We wanted to know about comedy ad-libs, making out with each other, dangerous stunts etc. but let’s be honest, we really wanted to know first how Anne dealt with being the only girl surrounded by funny fellows and how did she move so fast in 5-inch heels anyway…..

AGW: Anne, how did you do martial arts in heels, and was it fun or annoying being the only girl?

Anne: Annoying, no. No, no, no, I could never be annoyed with all those fine fellas, 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.

AGW: Steve, you dance with a pretty plus-sized lady in the film. How did that go on set? Are you leading or is she?

Steve: 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 [an L.A. area concert 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 [backside]. I have no idea how that is physically possible. [Anne is laughing but not telling].

AGW: Did you look at the old TV show or stay away from it?

Steve: I steered away from it because I didn't want to do an impression of Don Adams [Maxwell Smart on TV]. 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.

AGW: How about you, Anne? Your character Agent 99 was in the original TV show as well.

Anne: And I actually grew up watching the show on ‘Nick at Nite’ and loved it, so it was really fun to revisit it. 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.

AGW: Anne, how do you select roles? Is there pressure to live up to a memorable role like you had in “Prada”?

Anne: I think Meryl [Streep] 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've had tremendous luck in my life. Movies that I've made for artistic reasons have gone on to become commercial successes. It's kind of dumb luck. 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.

AGW: Steve, how much did you stick to the script and how much did you improvise on the spot?

Steve: 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 [things we could do] in collaboration with Pete [Segal, the director] 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.

AGW: Steve, you play such deadpan characters who keep a straight face. What does it take to make you break and laugh during a shot?

Steve: 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 [Arkin who plays “The Chief” of CONTROL] is trying to pronounce a name in 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: 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.

AGW: Steve, how much physical preparation did you do? Maxwell Smart does have to do some great action stuff.

Steve: Well, I worked out and made my body a physical specimen to be admired and fine tempered steel is what most people [describe me as]. No, I tried not to get killed was my MO in this.

AGW: What was the most dangerous stunt?

Steve: 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 into anything and just being pulled down train tracks riding on top of this platform. 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: 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 [below]…well, I guess 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.

AGW: Were you scared?

Anne: 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.

AGW: Anne, are you a fanatical fan of Steve’s TV show “The Office”?

Anne: 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?’ The season finale was awesome. I'm rooting for Jim and Pam. Phyllis is my favorite character. Actually, it's changed now but my alias [at hotels, etc.] 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. I really relate to it. 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.

AGW: Thank God because you have to make out with him. How was that by the way?

Anne: [a complete straight face] Making out with him is like the yummiest lollipop.

Steve: [laughing] You are so full of it.

Anne: Dipped in sunshine.

Steve: Stop it.

Anne: And wrapped in a masculine wrapper. That's the only way I can think to describe it. [Steve is still laughing].

AGW: But we hear you were sick on that day. True?

Anne: Okay, so you've got to hear this. 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 [stuff]. I am just snotty and I'm just like, ‘Come here’ [grabbing him]. 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.

AGW: Did you get pinkeye, Steve?

Steve: No, I didn't.

AGW: So, Steve, we’ll see you on ‘The Office’. Anne, how is Bride Wars [movie she is shooting with Kate Hudson] going?

Anne: Oh, Bride Wars is great. 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 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.

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