Mel Brooks breaks the Cone Of Silence

By Stone Martindale Jun 12, 2007, 0:45 GMT

Fans of the amazing sixties television show "Get Smart" are in for a real treat with the upcoming remake.  Original co-creators Buck Henry and Mel Brooks will be participting in the scripted shenanigans between the new agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) and agent 86 (Steve Carell).

MTV Movie Blog reports that funnymen Mel Brooks and Buck Henry are happy to lend their comedy genius to the project.                              

Buck Henry

“We’re really lucky because it’s been given their seal of approval. They are completely on board,” Carell told MTV News. “[They’ve] been in contact with Pete Segal, the director, and they’ve been going back and forth, doing pitches, and jokes, and sending things all the way along.”

Mel Brooks was so happy to be involved with the film that producers even set aside a small role for the 80-year-old, Carell said to MTV Movie Blog. “We asked him, but he’s too busy — he’s actually casting ‘Young Frankenstein’ which he’s doing on Broadway right now — but we had a cameo all set for him. He just couldn’t scheduling-wise make it up,” Carell said. “[But] we’re up shooting in Montreal right now, so he may be coming to visit us.”

Carell reveals some key casting details. “We do have some cameos involving some people from the original,” he said. One long-rumored cameo, that Will Ferrell is going to play the President of the United States, is not true, Carell insisted, telling MTV News that “James Caan plays the [role].”

“It’s turning out really well, and I think it’s going to be good,” Carell told MTV.