Would you believe… John Mulaney might be our next Maxwell Smart?
The comedian is reportedly circling the lead role in Warner Bros.’ upcoming reboot of Get Smart, and honestly?
That casting makes a ridiculous amount of sense.
Mulaney has basically built an entire career around looking like the most intelligent guy in the room while simultaneously admitting that he has absolutely no idea what the hell is going on.
That’s Maxwell Smart.
The project is still in the very early stages, so Mulaney hasn’t officially answered the shoe phone just yet. But Warner Bros. has hired Seth Grahame-Smith, who wrote Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, to handle the screenplay. Andrew Lazar and Chuck Roven are producing. Variety
The original Get Smart was created by comedy legends Mel Brooks and Buck Henry and debuted in 1965. Don Adams starred as Maxwell Smart, an extremely confident but hilariously incompetent secret agent working for CONTROL alongside the far more capable Agent 99, played by Barbara Feldon.
The show ran for 138 episodes, won seven Emmys and gave us the Cone of Silence, the shoe phone and some of the greatest catchphrases in television history.
“Missed it by that much.”
Hollywood already took a swing at rebooting the franchise in 2008 with Steve Carell as Smart and Anne Hathaway as Agent 99. That version also starred Dwayne Johnson, Alan Arkin and Terence Stamp.
And despite nobody spending the last 18 years demanding another one, it actually did pretty well—earning approximately $230 million worldwide on an $80 million budget. Box Office Mojo
Now Warner Bros. apparently wants to open the Cone of Silence again.
Look, does Hollywood desperately need another reboot of a television show from the 1960s?
Of course not.
But if you’re going to bring back Maxwell Smart, John Mulaney is a pretty inspired choice. He has the nervous energy, awkward confidence and ability to make a complete disaster sound like it was all part of the plan.
Now they just need to cast Agent 99.
And for the love of Mel Brooks, don’t forget the damn shoe phone.
