John Mulaney is getting smart.
The comedian is currently working on a Get Smart reboot, as it was revealed this fall that he is in talks to lead a reimagining that is in early development at Warner Bros. At the premiere of new movie Madden, in which he co-stars, Mulaney explained what drew him to the spoof spy franchise, which began as a 1960s comedy series created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry.
“It’s a world of espionage with a super, super confident, not always informed person. That’s my favorite type of person to play,” Mulaney told The Hollywood Reporter on the carpet on Wednesday. “I’ve gone very far in life sounding like I know what I’m talking about but having absolutely no idea what I’m saying. And I think that works perfectly for espionage.”
Now You See Me: Now You Don’t‘s Seth Grahame-Smith is writing the screenplay for the reboot, with Charles Roven and Andrew Lazar as producers. On top of the 1960s series, which starred Don Adams starred as the bumbling spy Maxwell Smart, Steve Carell starred in a 2008 movie adaptation alongside Anne Hathaway and Dwayne Johnson. That film collected $230 million globally and a sequel was in development that was later scrapped.
But first, Mulaney is playing Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins in the John Madden biopic, who worked with the football icon to launch the Madden NFL video game. The film, directed by David O. Russell with Nicolas Cage as Madden and Christian Bale as Raiders owner Al Davis, is hitting limited theaters and starts streaming Nov. 18 on Prime Video.
