'Get Smart' uncovers more facets of Anne Hathaway's talent

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In the seven years since she burst onto the scene in "The Princess Diaries," Anne Hathaway has starred in the boundary-busting "Brokeback Mountain," held her own with Meryl Streep in "The Devil Wears Prada," portrayed one of the world's most beloved authors in "Becoming Jane" and become the new face of beauty giant Lancome.It's a journey no one could have predicted."Seriously, absolutely no one," says Hathaway. "I think people are still scratching their heads about me. I know I am."With the opening of "Get Smart" on Friday, audiences will see more facets of Hathaway's talent: action star and straight man, er, woman. She seems to be prouder of the latter, saying she got the job because she was able to keep from cracking up at Steve Carell's antics the longest of those auditioning."I do believe that," says Hathaway. "I'm quite proud of that. I put it on my resume."Carell plays Maxwell Smart and Hathaway plays Agent 99 in the big-screen adaptation of the classic television show. While the track record for TV-inspired films is spotty, Hathaway didn't worry about that."The point that gave me pause was this is a comedy starring a comic master; am I going to be able to keep up?" she says. "And I quickly decided, 'No. Just try to stay out of Steve's way. When he's going off and coming up with something brilliant, just don't mess it up.' "Born in Brooklyn and reared in New Jersey, Hathaway, 25, wasn't alive when "Get Smart" was on the air from 1965 to 1970. She did, however, watch the show on Nick at Nite as a kid, and she recognized that Barbara Feldon, who played 99 to Don Adams' Max, was something special."Like everyone else, I loved her; I wanted to be her," she says. "She as an actress is just so elegant and sexy and smart and adorable."Agent 99 was ahead of her time, says Hathaway by phone from Paris shortly before helping to launch the new Lancome fragrance, Magnifique, which will be available in September."The thing about the original series and I think why so many women really, really warmed to that character, in addition to Barbara Feldon's performance, was because it was a woman in a man's world and nobody blinked an eye," she says. "The way that we updated it ... instead of Agent 99 being able to keep up with the boys, now she sets the pace. In very high heels."Hathaway hasn't always been sure of her footing as an actress."Before 'Brokeback Mountain,' I didn't know if I was an actress, let alone an artist," she says. "'Brokeback' was the first time that I kind of got to go deeply, deeply into that world. And I didn't give too bad of a performance. That was the first time that I thought to myself, 'Oh, my gosh, maybe I can do this.'"That project really frightened me, and there was a lot of opportunity to fail in it. ... So as a result I started from that point on doing things that I really didn't believe I could do and usually the opposite of the last thing that I did."(Contact Knoxville News Sentinel film critic Betsy Pickle at pickle(at)knews.com.)