The film adaptation of Get Smart is one of those rarities that I’m actually looking forward to: an adaptation that seems to want to be the best it can be instead of creating a tongue-in-cheek parody of the source material. Casting Steve Carell is a stroke of genius, especially if he is not, as he claims, just doing an impersonation of Don Adams. Anne Hathaway is up in the air, not because I don’t think she’s capable, but because she seems too young to play off Carell the same way the original series had the relationship between Smart and Agent 99.
Just as important as the primary cast in a movie like this is the supporting cast. The film can get away with some really good inside jokes and quips depending on who shows up as some of the minor Agents throughout the film. AICN has an interesting scoop on one of these minor roles. They have a source who says the part of Agent 13, who hides in mailboxes, trash cans, and the like, will be one of these special castings. The role is supposed to be none other than The Man Who Knew Too Little, Bill Murray.
Frankly, as someone who lives in perpetual fear of Bill Murray hiding in trash cans or mailboxes I go near (he’s known to appear in my hometown occasionally and without warning), I think this is brilliant. What I wonder is whether they cast him specifically because he had a spy role previously, or just because he’s Bill Murray. Either one is cool, but it would be neat to see a surge of other spies appearing as other agents: Roger Moore, Sean Connery, Steve Martin (although I guess he was more of a detective than a spy in Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid), etc. The more obscure the role, the better, with Steve Carell leading the bunch as Maxwell Smart.
