Exclusive 1-1 Interview: Peter Segal On Get Smart And Shazam!

By George 'El Guapo' Roush on July 28, 2007

Steve Carell as a secret agent? Has the world gone mad? Not if that world pays homage to Don Adams’ awesome Get Smart series with an updated movie directed by Peter Segal. Peter discusses the awesome casting in this film and his upcoming projects including Shazam!

The footage looked great. So is the movie done?

Segal: Done filming. We have like two days of some pick up stuff that we owe but we're in edit. Yeah.

And then when is it coming out?

Segal: Next year. Next summer.

How did this project fall in your lap?

Segal: A while back, the past few years it's sort of circled my desk. They've asked me to do 'Get Smart' and I just didn't think it was ready for right. There was no script that was ever really any good. And no one attached. So about a year and a half ago they said Steve Carell's attached and I thought 'Well, he's hilarious.' I just wanted to see if he could act as a leading man, as opposed to a supporting character like he was in 'Anchorman.' And so Judd Apatow is a buddy of mine and he invited me to an early screening of '40 Year Old Virgin' and I thought ‘Wow, sign me up. This guy's great.’ And then we started with a blank sheet of paper. We said let's throw out every script and start from scratch. What kind of story do we want to tell? What's the tone? And let's just go out. Now the bar was set so high with having such a great Max we have to make sure we get the perfect 99 and Chief and Larabee and Hymie and everybody.

A lot of the kids now aren't familiar with the older 'Get Smart' show. So how would you describe to these kids the 'Get Smart' universe?

Segal: It's interesting many years ago I was attached to 'Fantastic Four' and I asked the same question. It's an older comic how are we going to get the young kids? And then a few weeks before the movie came out my then four year old said, he was watching some commercials for 'Fantastic Four' and he said, 'Hey Dad, it's clobbering time.' And I went okay, well, there's a four year old. He now knows about it. So the marketing department, that's their job to bring an awareness to a younger crowd. What was fascinating though is that our teaser is attached to 'Harry Potter', which is a mostly young audience and actually skews mostly female young. And they consistently voted it in the theater they were in their favorite trailer of the five movie trailers that were playing. Ours is just a teaser. It's not even a trailer. And I thought wow, that's great. We thought we had a lot of work to do. We still do to attract a younger audience.

Are you going for PG?

Segal: PG-13. But a soft 13, not a hard. I mean it could almost…

Not like a 'Die Hard 4.'

Segal: No. And in some of my movies like a 'Nutty Professor', I've pushed the PG-13 to just shy of an R and there's a bit of a backlash. Parents in my neighborhood say 'Thanks a lot I took my kid to see that.' I went oops, sorry, but you laughed, right? 'Yeah but my kid's there.' So I've learned. I want to be respectful of that and I think a lot of people my age bring their kids and want to feel comfortable bringing their kids and not feel weird.

Is the Rock's role in this more of a straight man? Or does he have more of a comedic role?

Segal: No. He wanted to be funny and so originally Agent 23 was a bit more of a straight man but we let him have some rope and he pulled it off. He's got some really funny scenes. Especially with him and Koechner and he and Alan Arkin.

How cool is it to get Alan Arkin?

Segal: It's a dream. And one of the nicest guys. It literally was one of the nicest filming experiences I've ever had because everyone just had such a nice time with each other, which I know doesn't always mean the movie will turn out great just because you had a nice time making it, but if it turns out well, which I think it will…

A lot of times that will translate on the screen.
Segal: It really does. And you sense that they're having fun, that there wasn't tension.

You're attached to 'Shazam!'?

Segal: Yeah.

Is that going to be more of a comedy type movie?

Segal: No. It's still going to have some kick ass comic book action, but I think as with 'Fantastic Four' when Stan Lee asked me to do that and I asked him why me? He said 'Because those heroes have flaws and in those flaws there is humor.' and that's the heartbeat of 'Fantastic Four' and I believe that is a heartbeat in 'Shazam!' You've got a 14 year old pre-pubescent kid who morphs into a superhero. Well, he's still a kid inside and that's what gives it its 'Big' quality and I think that is a meal for an actor. We have two actors there to play that innocence. It's a genre in itself with movies like 'Big' and '13 going on 30' and on top of that you have all these superhero powers. That's going to be blast to make.

Have there been any decisions at all in casting? I know there's rumors of The Rock.

Segal: There's rumors of everybody.

Jake Gyllenhaal, Brandon Molale.

Segal: We've never had any discussions with anyone. I have talked to The Rock because he's a buddy of mine and we've worked together. And so that's the only one that we've actually, that's true. We haven't even thought about it. We don't have a script yet. It's due in, in about ten days. And John August, I'm very excited about him. He's one of the great writers in town is working on it. And we have really high hopes and we just met with New Line yesterday and the strike's coming up and they want to get this into production before the strike.

So the strike is going to…

Segal: I don't know. It almost happened in 2003 and it didn't. What it does is it still screws up the business so much because everyone runs in fear of a potential strike. It's almost like you might as well have the strike because everyone is boarding up their houses waiting for the big storm and it doesn't come, you still got to take out all those nails and wood. The town is a bit frantic right now.

Are you going to be helping with the script?

Segal: Yeah. I always do.

You'll be involved in a lot of the rewrites?

Segal: Yeah.

Taking things out you don't like?

Segal: Correct.

Are you going to be doing a movie about the first Olympic games?

Segal: Yes.

In Greece.

Segal: Yes. That is a fun one. That's at Universal and it's called 'I Thalus' and it's about the first Olympiad and that is a balls out comedy. And it's hilarious.

Any casting at all?

Segal: I certainly have ideas, but if I say them now it might scare people away. I mean the actors so I want to present it to them because there's a few choice people I have in mind who we've written the movie for. And we're very close to giving it to them so hopefully if they respond then we can tell you who they are.

And then you've got another film called 'Black and White.' It's about jaded NFL referees fixing the Superbowl, right?

Segal: Which is now poignant because of what's going on the lines today. And that one's also hilarious and that's by the guys who worked on 'American Dad.' It is absolutely hilarious. And very heavily R.

Do you like just being a comedy director?

Segal: You know as long as they're good stories. That's all that I care about. There's so many different genres within comedy. There's goof ball comedy, biting comedy, romantic comedy, action and this is my…

Even horror can be funny.

Segal: Yeah. Exactly. And this is my first action comedy or comedy action, 'Get Smart' and I'm having a ball.

Do you see this as a franchise?

Segal: You'll have to tell me after you see it. It would be great if it was, but the gods have to decide that, not me

Source:Latino Review

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  Comments

• SHAZAM THE MOVIE Wed Sep 24 at 15:35 EST

  I hope that Brandon Molale is the choice for Captain Marvel.Also I hope that the movie has great action ,something that was never done before in terms of his superpowers & his wisdom.He is not like Superman at all.

  Author: Vincent Harper | Permalink

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