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Think Steve Carell's upcoming adaptation of their classic 60's sitcom has series co-creators and legendary funnymen Mel Brooks and Buck Henry up in arms? "Get Smart."
"We're really lucky because it's been given their seal of approval. They are completely on board," Carell told MTV News, as giddy as a schoolboy when he said the two had even sent in jokes that made their way into the film. "[They've] been in contact with Pete Segal, the director, and they've been going back and forth, doing pitches, and jokes, and sending things all the way along."
So enthusiastic was Mel Brooks, that filmmakers even set aside a small role for the 80-year-old, Carell said. "We asked him, but he's too busy -- he's actually casting 'Young Frankenstein' which he's doing on Broadway right now -- but we had a cameo all set for him. He just couldn't scheduling-wise make it up," Carell declared. "[But] we're up shooting in Montreal right now, so he may be coming to visit us."
But even if Mel isn't able to star, there will be plenty of surprises from recognizable faces, Carell promised. "We do have some cameos involving some people from the original," he said. One long-rumored cameo, that Will Ferrell is going to play the President of the United States, is not true, Carell insisted, telling MTV News that "James Caan plays the [role]."
Anne Hathaway alongside Mel Brooks? The Rock sparring with James Caan? It's an exciting mix of the old and the new, that pays homage to the original while updating it for modern times, Carell asserted, adding that many of the iconic moments from the TV series, like, for instance, the shot of Maxwell Smart walking down a hallway full of closing doors, will find their way into the film. "There are a lot of iconic elements that have been incorporated into this and I think kind of intriguingly. It's not, not out of the blue," the "Evan Almighty" actor contended. "Because it's set in modern day, you'd ask, well, 'Why would there be a shoe phone? But certain elements from the original they've been able to incorporate kind of seamlessly."
"It's turning out really well, and I think it's going to be good," he concluded.
