LOS ANGELES - Steve Carell is up to the challenge of stepping into the shoes of Don Adams, who played super-spy Maxwell Smart in the movie version of the iconic 1960s television series ?Get Smart.?

?I was a fan of the show as a little kid,? said the star of the comedy movie ?The 40-Year-Old Virgin,? the award-winning indie film ?Little Miss Sunshine? and the acclaimed TV series, ?The Office.? Carell added that he and his friends used to do Don Adams impersonations. ?It was just one of those shows that everybody clung to.?

Daunting offer

The actor thus found the offer to do ?Get Smart? daunting, because he might not do it the right way.

?I want to pay homage. I want to honor the original. But I didn't want to do an impression of Don Adams because I didn't think there was any value trying to mimic what he did,? Carell said. ?Don's rendition was so definitive.?

Also starring in the homage - not a complete copy of the beloved TV show -- are Anne Hathaway as Agent 99, Dwayne Johnson as Agent 23, Alan Arkin as the Chief, Terence Stamp as the evil crime syndicate head Siegfried, and Ken Davitian (?Borat?) as his sidekick Shtarker, James Caan in a hilarious send-up of President Dubya and Masi Oka (?Heroes?). It is directed by Peter Segal (?The Longest Yard,? ?50 First Dates?).

Segal told us in an earlier interview that Carell was not very light on his feet, not a very good dancer, which was why the comedian had a hard time doing the dance scene. Carell, when asked to react about Segal's comments, shot back with a smile, ?Well, he's just a dumb ass. I will just throw that back in his face. How about that, Peter??

Carell explained that all the dance sequences were ?very well choreographed? and they took some time working on. ?We really had to learn how to ballroom dance. It was fun for me because it's one of those quintessential spy movie setups in a big ballroom of a mansion during a big party.?

In addition to this glamorous ballroom scene, ?Get Smart? features gadgets that are high-tech innovations of the ones displayed in the '60s series, and exotic locations, mostly in Europe.

Did Carell, like agent Max who did not get his promotion at Control (the movie's US spy agency), ever miss some kind of opportunity or chance in his life?

?Honestly, the one time I felt like I would miss my chance was asking Nancy (Walls) to be my wife,? he replied. ?That, I was worried about. So I went for it. That would have been the biggest loss, if I'd missed that chance.?

Bad at hiding

Carell does not think he has the makings of a good spy himself as he is very bad at hiding his feelings. Any sort of high-tech gadgetry would also be lost on him, he said, confessing to be less than proficient on simple tools as the computer or the cell phone.

As for any incidents that happened while filming any of the action scenes, he revealed: ?To leap at the seven-foot-six-inch villain in this movie (portrayed by Dalip Singh, of ?The Longest Yard?) was hard. At one point, we got our signals crossed in terms of who was supposed to punch whom. And he almost took my head off my body. When he makes a fist, it is the size of a ham. It is enormous. When you shake his hand, you are actually shaking the inside of his palm (laughs). So he is just an enormous physical presence. That was one of those moments that my life flashed before my eyes and I thought I was inches away from actually being killed.?

He added, ?One punch from this guy would have done it. But I did a lot of the stunts. It was fun. I thought I have to just fool around, play, and hang on wires. In one scene, I slam into the side of a bus and our director asked, ?Well, could you hit the side of the bus with your face and then slide down the glass window of the bus? And on the first take, I slammed so hard that I broke the glass of the side of the window.? Carell deadpanned: ?I was very proud of that.?

We pointed out that one of the similarities between him and agent Max is that success came late both in their lives. What was it like to become famous and successful late in his life and did he focus on it, we asked.

?No, I never focused on it,? he answered firmly. ?I never considered it really. It just fell into my lap. It is sort of hard to describe because I also do not take it very seriously. I know that as quickly as success came, it can go away. So I kind of put it aside and I did not generally acknowledge it. Even to hear you say that makes me squirm a little bit because I don't really believe it.?

An actor's concern

The 45-year-old actor, who lives in Los Angeles with wife Nancy Walls (?Saturday Night Live?), and their two children, added: ?Honestly, the biggest part of the success that I enjoy is knowing that my kids' education is taken care of and that they have a nice place to live. That was always my concern, as an actor.?

Carell, who did not have to audition for ?Get Smart? (he was floored when the producers simply offered the role), continued, ?Auditioning is really hard. And facing rejection on a daily basis is difficult. You grow a very thick skin. So when people just offer you parts and say, 'We would like you to do this movie, or, this TV show, that is nice.' It is very relaxing. But I don't expect that to necessarily continue.? NEPALES