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Dwayne Johnson on Get Smart
By Fred Topel | Image property of Warner Bros.
Get Smart
In the world of Get Smart, the goofy spy often gets more accomplished than the traditional action heroes. Dwayne Johnson plays the experienced field agent to whom Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell) looks up. He is essentially like James Bond.
Dwayne Johnson Rocks Get Smart
"A little bit I thought of James Bond," said Johnson. "I also thought, well, here's a guy, a pretty successful guy at what he does and yet he has a dark side. For me, my process for all my movies is to just get really close with the director and just make sure we're on the same page, we share the same vision for the movie, the same tone. It was a character I was excited to play, and physically too. When I first started thinking about the character, how all our characters came together, the thought of Steve Carell and myself just side by side is just funny, and it made me laugh from the get go. Then it was funny on the page and I thought we had a pretty good shot of making a good movie, or a funny movie."
The action heats up to a level Johnson is used to from his days as The Rock. The climactic action sequence has him fighting white speeding along railroad tracks. "The challenge is you're on a moving vehicle, number one. The vehicle is moving at a really high speed, so you want to be careful, and at the same time, you just want to make sure the action is rooted in reality and everything you play, you want to make sure that it's played in a realistic way, and at some point too, you always want to find the balance of making people smile and making them laugh as well."
That sort of professional attitude keeps Johnson safe. " I felt very safe and comfortable in the environment with the stunt coordinator and his team of people around us, making sure everything was safe. That was a great stunt, and if you're into stunts and physicality like that as an actor, you look for days like that. We're on a railroad track and we were going 50, 60 miles an hour. We were harnessed into the SUV, and having our fight scene as the car's going that fast. Not only is it challenging, but again I think the key with that is to make sure that the actors feel safe and comfortable. And with the stunt coordinator we had and his team, everybody felt very safe and again we were harnessed in, buckled, we really weren't going anywhere, and then you lay out the fight scene and you rehearse it a little while and you get on that camera car and go."
Get Smart exercised Johnson's comedy muscles as well. "The great thing is, we were all funny in our way, and merging all of us together on the set and in this movie was great. We all learned from each other, and all the dynamics really meshed well. A lot of times when you get a lot of actors with different personalities they don't always mesh that well, but I think everything meshed really well and we just had a great time. Between Steve Carell and Alan Arkin, especially Alan Arkin, they are Titans to me, and they were great to be around and great to learn from. It's like being around your favorite professor or your favorite family member, your grandfather, who's telling you great stories. That's what those guys were. And you know, Alan in particular, Steve was as well, but Alan in particular, just very gracious not only with his comedy but just very gracious with his time. Especially with me because it was like sit down, let me ask you questions. Really, jeez, more questions. I was like yes. He's great though."
Get Smart opens to theatres on June 20th.
For the trailers, posters, stills and more movie info, go to the Get Smart Movie Page.
Fred Topel
Sources: Image property of Warner Bros.
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