Training to do hardcore action stunts was just part of the job for Anne Hathaway on Get Smart. These days, they can mold any actress into a superhero. What they really needed was someone who could still act serious when Steve Carell was getting into ridiculous situations as Maxwell Smart.
Anne Hathaway Deals With Maxwell Smart
"I think that’s the reason why I got the role," said Hathaway. "It’s almost impossible to keep up with him and match him joke for joke because he’s a genius at it and even if I were good at it I’m not a genius and I have very little experience doing it and he’s just Steve Carell. I mean, 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."
In fact, everything after the audition has been gravy for Hathaway, who only took the call to meet her idol. "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 [The Office] TiVo’d up the wahoo and I’m always watching it when I have five 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. We are quite busy doing this movie but it’s usually hard enough for me to compliment him on an episode that I’ve seen. He’s just a wonderfully down to earth guy. He just kind of always brushes it off."
As Agent 99, Hathaway gets to stand in the spotlight many times herself. Wearing any of 99's many glamorous outfits, Hathaway sports as many looks as she did in The Devil Wears Prada.
"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 was going for. 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 when in the scene before she didn’t have any so 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."
Though she's only in her '20s, Hathaway knew firsthand about the classic '60s TV series. "When I was about eight or nine, Get Smart had this moment where Nick At Night I guess had bought the series and started playing them over and over and over. So when I was eight to nine 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 and I grew up spending my summers in Cape Bay, New Jersey so we would ride off our bikes and beat up Chaos 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. I couldn’t be more thrilled. 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."
Get Smart opens to theatres on June 20th.
For the trailers, posters, stills and more movie info, go to the Get Smart Movie Page.
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