Would You Believe They Made a Movie?

"It would be cruder if it were done today. We're in an age of cynicism now. I don't know if I'd be as comfortable doing it. It only works if it's kind, and not mean-spirited."

- Leonard Stern on remaking Get Smart*

Way back in the mid-90s during the birth of the Get Smart Mailing List, a fine controversial topic was brought up: If Get Smart were made into a Tinsel Town production, then who would star? That turned into a big, fat, itchy-scratchy topic of sorts and was put to pasture until an ironic thing happened --a little known script writer named Nick Marine wrote a script called Spyville.
It was late 1998 when Marine's script appeared attached with a cluster of rumors. One, Warner Brothers bought the script and two, the biggest tale out of school by far, was the chance that Jim Carrey was considering taking the lead in this production. Now, Jim Carrey signing his name on a movie contract is no big or surprising event -except this time. Why? Spyville had a definite Smartian theme to it and this particular script was going to be used as a Get Smart Movie -or so they said.
Be it known support for the movie has been divided like the north and the south. A certain portion of the population expressed a new GS movie was a a worthy venture. They had their own ideas for the cast, for merchandising, as well as high hopes of becoming an extra. The only problem was: Who would play Max?
It was the fact that no mere mortal was deemed worthy enough to fill the mighty shoes of Don Adams that put a big gaping hole in this proposal. How, how, how, and how can anybody be Maxwell Smart but Don Adams? The characterization of Smart was ultimately developed by Adams, so who was man enough to carry this weight? After Carrey's name came up a few other suspects were mentioned including Tom Hanks, Adam Sandler and Will Ferell.
     A decade later a real Get Smart movie crept around the corner. Was it better than the Nude Bomb? Was it worse than Santa Claus Conquers the Martians? Will they ever make a sequel? Read about it on my:

Get Smart: The Movie Page