Who else can play Max?

[the guy in Control]

assuming that they were to go forward with a new movie or TV series, and assuming that Steve Carell were unwilling to reprise the role of Max, who do you think would play a good Max? any ideas?

[colly]

Jim Carrey.....not.

[the guy in Control]

i heard that they actually did consider Jim Carrey and Will Farrell both for the part of Max before they decided on Steve Carell...

think we dodged two major bullets when we got Carell, don't you?!

[PhantomPictures]

I wouldn't mind Jim Carrey, to be honest Will Ferrell, though, is a terrible comedian...

Hmmm, who else? Mike Myers?

By the way, once the Pink Panther short I've been working on (30mins approx) is in the can, we're planning to shoot Get Smarter - I'll play '86

[colly]

thinking about this - its luck there were no "Steve Carell is not maxwell Smart" movements when he was cast....

[colly]

heres an article on this very topic:

Would You Believe They're Making 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.

so there you have it:
Jim Carrey
Tom Hanks
Adam Sandler
Will Ferrell.

thinking about it, Sandler mightve been allright a few years ago

[the guy in Control]

my wife is a huge Adam Sandler fan, but i think she would agree that he wouldn't have been right for the role...

[colly]

He would've been much better than Will Ferrell.

[the guy in Control]

you got me there!

[Shtarker]

Oct 3, 2008 1:46:10 GMT -5 colly said:

so there you have it:
Jim Carrey
Tom Hanks
Adam Sandler
Will Ferrell.

Personally, I'm glad none of the above got the role!

I'm not sure ANYONE can really fill Don Adams' shoes, but definitely none of those would have been good, in my opinion.

[amy]

Don Adams mentioned at the Get Smart reunion back in 2003 that if a Get Smart movie was to be made he would want Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) to play Max. I have to say I agree with him! Eric would able to do both serious and comedic scenes with the character. I think with Steve it's funny all the time and he puts more of his own humor into the role and Eric would be able to make the role his own while still paying tribute to Don's Max.