Cool News
Quint has a small chat with Peter Segal about GET SMART and even a little about SHAZAM!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a short interview I had with Peter Segal at Comic-Con about his adaptation of the classic TV show, GET SMART!
My track record with Segal’s movies is pretty good. I’m a sucker for Drew Barrymore and I fully admit to loving 50 FIRST DATES. On the surface I should have hated it… big budget star vehicle romantic comedy, but I’m too much of a softie.
I also surprisingly liked ANGER MANAGEMENT, I unabashedly love TOMMY BOY and remember enjoying the Jack Lemmon/James Garner team-up MY FELLOW AMERICANS, but admittedly I haven’t seen that one since it came out.
The GET SMART footage they screened at the Con was also surprisingly good. Funny, big… like they plopped Maxwell Smart in the middle of a real modern action movie in the BOURNE style.
So, enjoy the brief chat and enjoy a few wonders of modern technology I like to call sound-o-text!!
Quint: I’m such a fool for a good cast and watching personalities play with each other and it seems that you were very conscious of putting some amazing people in this movie. You have General Zod as your bad guy for God’s sake…
Peter Segal: Well I appreciate you saying that and I have to say when he came in and I met Terence [Stamp], he was the only person we wanted to play Siegfried… He actually said “You know Pete, people always ask me to say ‘Kneel before Zod,’ so I do,’” and he did and I thought “oh, this is so cool. I have General Zod actually saying “Kneel before Zod,” and he was in white tennis shorts and I was like “this is like an out of body experience!”
But you know, it’s interesting because I grew up with the show. With Steve and I around the same age, we both grew up with it and we didn’t want to screw the pooch. We knew that we are dealing an iconic show, probably one of the top three most remembered television series in history. You name it, THE HONEYMOONERS, DICK VAN DYKE, or I LOVE LUCY… and why we did it is because we felt that if we embraced it and embraced the spirit of the show and really didn’t try to reinvent the wheel… because if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it… that there could be a place for it forty-three years later.
Quint: Well what makes would make it work is to not completely change the tone or completely change the basics, but by put these different personalities in these roles, in this universe.
Peter Segal: Right and we consulted Mel [Brooks] and Buck [Henry] and Leonard Stern and I asked those guys, because I wanted to know… I was fascinated… Chuck Roven is one of our producers and he produced BATMAN BEGINS, which I think is one of the best comic books ever brought to the big screen and I loved the fact that even the last CASINO ROYALE or the last James Bond was an origin story and I thought, “there’s a place for that here,” and so I asked Mel what he thought and he thought it was a great idea and so did Leonard. Mel ironically told me when THE PRODUCERS went from the big screen back to Broadway that he introduced a bit of an origin in that transition, so he said “I did it myself. I think it’s a great idea.” So once we got their blessing, we felt like we were on solid ground.
Quint: Yeah.
Peter Segal: We’re going to find bumps along the way, because so many people love it exactly the way it was, that we’re going to hit a trip wire here or there, but we are really trying to pay attention to the details of the show that made it so lovable.
Quint: Even with the cast, my main worries… I just kept thinking, “Well THE AVENGERS had a great cast and that turned out to not work,” but AVENGERS decided to make it so cornball, but it was such a different kind of comedy than what the original was…
Peter Segal: It was.
Quint: It sounds like you’re trying to avoid those pitfalls.
CLICK HERE TO READ ALONG WITH THE ANSWER!!!
Peter Segal: Well we’re trying, you know, there’s no way that we can top the original show and we are not trying to. There’s no way Steve, and Steve has told me, there’s no way he can do a better job as Maxwell Smart than Don Adams, so we are just trying to do the best we can and bring GET SMART to a new generation who haven’t seen it before and my son, who is seven, already keeps humming the theme song and he’s loving watching the doors the way I did when I was a kid…
Quint: Yeah.
Peter Segal: And that was a Leonard Stern creation, the doors, and you know, there was nothing funny about it. It was just cool and so to find that same balance between our cool action and of course the core comedy, that’s the challenge.
Quint: What spoke to me more than the leads that you put in the movie is when you’ve got Masi Oka and you’ve got [David] Koechner… There’s only so much, especially when you’re trying to be funny, that the leads can do…
Peter Segal: Right.
Quint: They can wear themselves out really quickly, but I love that you gave them a solid supporting structure.
Peter Segal: Yeah and we’ve thrown in a couple of new characters, you know, Masi and Nate Torrence play Bruce and Lloyd, the inventors, because I remember a lot of times the chief would go to a closet and pull out a gadget and show Max “here’s your new gadget,” and I thought “well there’s an opportunity there.” We have our characters and I agree with you, that if you get away from your main characters for a scene or a half of a scene, you look forward to seeing them again, because they can wear thin if it’s just constantly them there.
And The Rock, Agent 23, there was an Agent 23 on the series, but this guy is the mentor to Max, you know, and he did a great job. I was thrilled to have the guy doing a movie like this and although he has done a couple of comedies, it’s not really in his wheelhouse and that’s what I find exciting.
Quint: He’s actually really good at it. As a matter of fact, I think that it might be some of the reason why he hasn’t really found his Schwarzenegger starring vehicle, because I think that he has such a sense of humor and they don’t really make those kinds of movies… If he was in the eighties, I think he could have been as big as Schwarzenegger, because they were making movies like COMMANDO, which could be really tongue and cheek…
Peter Segal: You’re right and I think guys like that or guys like [Adam] Sandler, who will do a commercial vehicle and then do something a little more artistic like PUNCH DRUNK and I think in the same way, Dwayne [Johnson] is balancing different kinds of movies and I think it just increases the longevity of your career.
Quint: Well I need to ask if the cone of silence is…
Peter Segal: Oh absolutely…
Quint: I figured that was a given, but…
Peter Segal: Oh yeah, no we have and I told Buck, he said “is my beloved cone of silence in the movie?” and I said “of course.” He said “Ahh…”
Quint: I’m glad because no cone of silence would be like doing the film without the shoe-phone.
Peter Segal: Well, the shoe-phone is in there too, but then the hard thing was “how do you get the shoe-phone in a contemporary story?” We figured out a way and we situated Control… He always… the car pulls up and he goes up some steps and then he goes down an elevator and we said “Well, what is the building on top of the elevator? We could say it’s anything… It just has to be in Washington,” so we put it under… because the same steps looked like they were at the Smithsonian, so we put a lot of the gadgets in the Smithsonian and the cover was, as you will see in the movie, a tour guide walks by and says “ and this is what is left of CONTROL, a super secret spy agency who once battled the evil forces of KAOS,” and you see the shoe-phone and there was a cone of silence from the TV series, which was hilarious… two fishbowl like bubbles with a tube that looked like a bong and like the stereophonic gun… We got to put all of these gadgets that we could find, and some we rebuilt…We rebuilt the shoe-phone… and then someone told me, “you know the actual shoe-phone from the series rests is in the Smithsonian,” and I didn’t know that.
Quint: That’s pretty awesome.
Peter Segal: So it was pretty cool.
Quint: That’s great, so you were being true and you didn’t even know it.
Peter Segal: Exactly. Ironically. I was more true than I had thought.
Quint: I’d be lynched if I didn’t bring it up before we ended this interview…SHAZAM… Are you still doing it?
Peter Segal: Absolutely. We’re working on the script right now and John August is working on it and I have to say I’m really excited about this. This is one of my favorite comic books and I had to remind myself when I researched again, once I signed on, that it was the most popular comic in the world in 1939 and because of a lot of legal problems it was shelved away and enjoined and when it came back again and during that time Superman thrived, but what I think is relevant about this comic is that element of BIG. BIG meets Superman.
There’s no comic out there… I mean, Iron Man has that flawed character and that’s what makes that unique, but this kid is a prepubescent boy that gets to morph and become a superhero and I think you’ve got to… that’s so rich… you know, to find two actors, because I don’t think one actor can play 14 and 28… that’d be a little creepy like CLIFFORD or something, I don’t know, but that’s why I think they came after a guy like me.
I know some people said “why him?” I asked that same question when Stan Lee came to me… I was on FANTASTIC FOUR about 8 years ago for about a year and a half and Chris Columbus had given it to me and then Stan Lee met me and I asked “Why? Why me?” and he said “Well, because MARVEL heroes have flaws and therein lies their humor” and I think that’s why New Line came at me with that one, so that’s going to be fun. I’m looking forward to it.
Quint: I think SHAZAM would kind of lend itself be the kind of counter-superhero movie, because the emphasis is on fun and you don’t have to force a… it’s almost starting to become a cliché, where you look at BATMAN and SPIDERMAN like there always has to be that dark brooding side of the super hero. That definitely works, but it’ll be interesting to see something different.
Peter Segal: It served its purpose, because a lot of comic books had become so glossy and losing a sense of themselves, that by bringing it back and grounding it. The Dark Knight was cool again, but now if you keep doing it, then that will need to be refreshed and so that’s why again I don’t see that element in other comic books… the boyish wonder of it all and I think that’s going to be a blast, to tell that story.
Quint: Do you have any other projects circling or are you diving right into SHAZAM after this?
Peter Segal: I’m hoping to. We’re expecting to see our first draft in a few weeks. I’ve got several other projects that we sold last year. I, THALUS, which is a comedy about the first Olympiad to Universal.
We have BLACK AND WHITE at New Line, which is NFL refs who throw the Super Bowl… and we have one at Disney called GOBLINS, which is based on Brian Froud’s drawings and we have created a story for them.
Quint: I was so depressed when The DARK CRYSTAL sequel fell through…
Peter Segal: Yeah.
Quint: It’s like, I think that we’re ready for a great kind of Henson fantasy again.
Peter Segal: I’ve got all of his sketches just wall to wall in my office. If you’re ever in LA, come by I’ll show you.
Quit: I just might take you up on that. So I think that’s about it.
Peter Segal: Alright, great. It was nice talking to you.
There's the chat.
Hope you guys enjoyed it. The best is yet to come... I think tomorrow afternoon will be perfect to post my 20 minute long discussion with Tobin Bell and I still have at least half a dozen more interviews circling. I just gotta move my ass, pick up the little orange lightsaber cone things and bring them safely down so you can read 'em.
I did get a note from Segal after the Con where I mentioned he said on a panel that Mel Brooks and Buck Henry both have cameos in the movie. Not so. Brooks was busy finalizing YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN's stage show, but he did say that they're trying to get a last minute shoot in with Barbara Feldon. That's pretty nifty, yeah? God, I had such a huge crush on her...
Anyway, keep your eyes peeled! So many goodies on the way!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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Yay me!
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"There’s no way Steve, and Steve has told me, there’s no way he can do a better job as Maxwell Smart than Don Adams, so we are just trying to do the best we can and bring GET SMART to a new generation who haven’t seen it before" The eternal credo of the hack remake-merchant. The interview should have ended there. Oh well, can't expect everything.
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Aug 10, 2007 6:40:18 AM CDT
Didn't Mel Brooks once said that he hated the idea of..
by derlanghaarige
...an origin story for Maxwell Smart?
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Then again, I watch all comic book movies, even when I know they're gonna be shit. Also, I refuse to have anything more to do with this site until that damned Rush Hour 3 advertisement goes away. Now we know why you people even reviewed that shitpile in the first place. They payed you to! I'm disgusted...
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guy sounds like he's got a great pitch for it.
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I'm there
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What has this guy done that hasn't been goofy comedy?! Is that the direction for Shazam?! August doesn't write like that. I don't get this project at all.Could've been great.
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Didn't they make that already??? A remake already? Maybe LeBron James could star!
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Lame. How could they shelve that?
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Nice to see an add for the Flash Gordon dvd.
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Why hasn't anyone mentioned this on AICN prior to this little sidenote? I was really looking forward to that. Damn!
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Heh heh heh.
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I too was looking forward to The Dark Crystal. Why, movie gods, why? That's the kind of sequel I can actually get behind. Don't they realize it would have been gold? Isn't fantasy popular right now? C'mon guys get your head out of your collective asses.
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I read the article as maybe Segal was supposed to do the Dark Crystal 2 adn that fell through but I visit this site almost every day and I don't remember that at all, so who knows.The Get Smart remake looks fun and I personally loved the Teaser but when I saw it before...either Hairspray or Harry Potter except for me there was silence, like crickets chirping silence, I'm a little worried about thatPatrick Warburton is a good choice for Shazam but too old, didn't you read it, 14 and 28. I know The Rock is a little older then that and fans might pitch a fit but I think he would be a good choice pesonally, but then again I dn't read Shazam so what do I know
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For Christ's sake SHAZAM is NOT "BIG meets Superman"!!!! That's the shit-ass 80s version that been flopping in comic books for over 20 years!!!!
Come on Quint, how could you not ask that no-talent ass why he's making a movie of version a Captain Marvel that's so unbelievably awkward and shitty that it hasn't been able to support its own title in more than two decades??? How could you not even ask that?
Someone please explain to Segal that the "Captain Manchild" character he's talking about, the childlike, half-Big half-Superman hybrid has been bombing in the comic books since DC revived the character. It is a cringe-inducing shitbomb that no one... not kids, not teens, and not adults, has EVER related to, been a fan of or spent money on.
I mean seriously, how many times does this version of the character have to go out of print before DC realizes that "BIG meets Superman" sounds great in a room full of executives, and appeals to absolutely NO ONE (never has, never will). It's going to be all jokes about his sexual immaturity and bad vocabulary.... sound exciting, right fanboys?
What a fucking hack. I'm praying this movie and John August's whole ill conceived script wind up lining some producer's birdcage and never gets made. Please let this movie die in production lord, PLEASE!!!! Please let DC realize that their "BIG meets SUPERMAN" monstrosity has always sucked and change Captain Marvel back to what he should be. PLEASE!!!! PLEASE!!! -
This guy is LYING through his missing teeth! Mel Brooks is AGAINST an origin story, has been from the beginning. NONE of the original creative team was involved until jackass Segal got all the backlash from the fans because he tried to REMOVE the original creative teams names' from the project. He has said over and over that he DOES NOT LIKE the original show. They're just backpedaling because Evan Almighty bombing so badly. Talk about last minute desperation Just check out the facts:
http://wouldyoubelieve.com/movie.html
Read this for the TRUTH -
http://wouldyoubelieve.com/movie.html
The truth shall set you free -
Despite Segal's furious backpedaling, there was no real involvement from the original creative team in this movie and Segal is well aware of that fact, but knows this movie can't stand on its own merit. No contact was made with Mel, Buck or Leonard until well AFTER shooting began on this movie. Quint should check out the facts before his mindless, brown-nosing interviews with softball questions, but it's clear he's more interested in being invited on the set and all the goodies that come with being a shill for movie publicists than providing real insight.
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If everything about the character as he was created, and has been for the past 60+ years bugs you that much, then I'd say you don't like the character. So what do you care what they do with him?
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You missed my point, which was that the modern DC incarnation of the Faucett character Captain Marvel is significantly different from the classic character. It's not 60 years of the character that bugs me, it's the last 20 or so. When DC "updated" Cap for the DC universe, they redesigned him to give him the mind of Billy Batson (which the classic character didn't have, in the traditional canon, Cap and Billy are distinct individuals). The DC incarnation has never been interesting or successful (they've tried giving this character his own title nearly a dozen times and they all fail). The problem is that DC's agenda was never about making the best Captain Marvel possible, they wanted the best Captain Marvel that could fit into a world with Superman without overshadowing him. So they turned Cap into a literally overgrown child, made him the butt of all kinds of sexual immaturity jokes and generally turned him into a complete goofball. Shockingly, nobody ever became interested in buying a comic book about this idiot. Sigh.
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Just to be clear, I absolutely love John August as a screenwriter (and I'm very much looking forward to seeing the Nines) and I think he could do a great job on this movie if he hadn't decided (or been told) to base the script on the modern DC incarnation of Cap. I just think that DC's take on the character is fatally flawed.
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you forgot to ask if Shaq would be reprising his role for the sequel.
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someone already made a Shaq reference. my post seems much less witty now.
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But like any other DC comics property, not called Superman or Batman, it's not happening. What about if instead of Shazam, they did a movie of Shazzan? A winged-camel guarantees huge box office returns.
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Iconic and Ironic.
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...childlike wonder and childlike stupidity. Let's hope they approach this with the former instead of the latter. This project raises the same hopes and concerns as I have with a Flash movie helmed by Shawn Levy (sp?). As always, I'm cautiously hopeful.
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coz Rowan Atkinson has lost it big time..totally unfunny output from him over the last few years
Mr Bean is overcooked and had it as well -
Make SHAZAM! with Warburton soon! He was born to play the big red cheese. He's even got the Captain Marvel squint!™
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I was waiting on the long ass line outside on the patio at Comic-Con for "Heroes" at Ballroom 20 and I passed Brandon Molale being interviewed- he not only looks like Captain Marvel but Alex Ross's Captain Marvel from "Kingdom Come." I noticed his business card on the free table wearing the red and gold. New Line will score big if they hire this guy- DO NOT CAST THE ROCK AS CAPTAIN MARVEL, THE ROCK IS BLACK ADAM! Casting is everything in Superhero movies, if they cast Molale as Cap and Dewayne Johnson as Black Adam, they have potential to make a truly great comic book movie.
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check this out!
http://brandonmolale.com/images/LAStarsGame1.jpg -
Anyone remember those from the 70's? They re-published them after the Saturday morning show became big...very cool. Total 30's-40's feel.
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especially since both of these projects sound very entertaining... potentially. But in a different discussion elsewhere our pal BadMrWonka criticized the goofballs who gripe "Oh, that's not "news", I read it two hours ago on some obscure comics site." Well, fair enough. But I was just over checking out the "show biz" catagory at Fark News and read a yahoo news report that a Jonny Quest movie is being planned. So I came here to read the details about it and don't see an article... yet. Yeah, I know a lot of properties get optioned or put in pre-production or simply get discussed here that never come to fruition. But to me this is major news - I'm 54 so I not only watch Jonny Quest in prime time first run, but it was my favorite show the year it was on... and actually made me wish we had a color Tv because it had the most incredible artwork I'd ever seen on any animated project up to that time (thanks to Doug Wildey and Alex Toth). So I very much hope this film gets made and I very much hope it gets made well. But even if it's little more than a rumor at this point, I still have to think that the mere possibility of a Jonny Quest movie fits the definition of what "Cool News" is, and I hope this site deems it worthy of an article and a talkback. Back on topic for this discussion, the cast for "Get Smart" sounds terrific, and I love the premise "Max Smart dropped into Jason Bourne's world". I think doing a Captain Marvel movie based on the '40s comics that sold over a million copies an issue would be the way to go, but personally I greatly enjoyed Jerry Ordway's "Power of Shazam" series as well as the Justice League portrayal of the character as the boyishly innocent "Captain Whitebread".
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There was an article about the Jonny Quest movie on AICN, just a few days ago.
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Please?
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The casting of Mary Marvel. Mmmmmm.....Mary Marvel....
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HOW DOES DARK CRYSTAL 2 FALLING THROUGH NOT EQUAL BIG NEWS ON THIS SITE?!?!?!?!?!?!?! I COME HERE ALMOST EVERY DAY AND NEVER SAW IT....... MY FAITH IN AICN IS SHATTERED!!!!!
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Captain Marvel and company would fit well into a Disney project. DC has never gotten Captain Marvel right with the exception of the first twenty or so issues of the 70's series. I really liked Filmation stuff from way back. I guess Disney could buy the rights down the road.
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Is if they have a cameo by Roman Polanski anally raping Billy Batson. At which point Billy screams "Shazam!" then Captain Marvel appears and rapes Roman Polanski. This movie needs a hard R.
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