Call it a "smart" move: If comedy genius Steve Carell was going to bring the iconic character of Maxwell Smart to life on the big screen, the last thing he wanted to do was an imitation of Don Adams -- the television great who introduced the character to audiences in the classic "Get Smart" series in 1965.

Yet on the flip side, Carell thought it was key that the movie version of "Get Smart" capture the tone of the series, not only to honor the expectation of the show's fans, but to introduce a unique brand of humor to the audiences in a "Smart" new world.

"It's a tricky proposition because it is a very specific tone," Carell said in a recent @ The Movies interview. "Yet at the same time we tried not to make the film a carbon copy of the show. I also decided early on that I didn't want to do an impersonation of Don. He'd done the character so well that I couldn't have lived up to any semblance of what he did."

Based on the series by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, "Get Smart" is directed by Peter Segal ("Tommy Boy," "Anger Management") and is produced by, among others, filmmaker Charles Roven: one of the producers on the Batman redux "Batman Begins" and its upcoming sequel "The Dark Knight."

And while "Get Smart" doesn't quite go through the overhaul that the "Batman" movie franchise did, it did take an origins approach to the character, a la "Batman Begins." Call it a sort-of "Get Smart Begins."

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"I think it makes you invest in the character when you see whence he came," said Carell, the acclaimed star of the hit sitcom "The Office." "It shows the audience a little bit of backstory of why this guy is so eager to be a spy and why he might act the certain ways that he does."

"Get Smart" finds the one-time analyst Smart on his first spy mission -- to stop of evil plans of world domination by the crime syndicate KAOS -- after the headquarters of the U.S. spy agency CONTROL is attacked and the identities of its agents are compromised. Promoted by Chief (Carell's "Little Miss Sunshine" co-star Alan Arkin) to take on the dangerous mission, Smart is partnered with the stunning and lethal Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) -- the only other agent who hasn't been compromised -- and introduced to a whole new world of action and spy-tech gadgetry.

Opening in theaters Friday, the comedy also stars Dwayne Johnson as Smart's idol, Agent 23, and Terrence Stamp as KAOS operative Siegfried.

Thanks to the help of an origin springboard, Carell said he was allowed to jump headfirst into the idea of giving Smart a different spin, creatively. Still, in an effort to maintain the integrity of the character, the comedy star also consulted with "Get Smart" series veteran Leonard Stern.

"Leonard was one of the original executive producers on the show and I really picked his brain on how Don Adams approached the character and what they all wanted the character to be initially," Carell explained. "We kept coming back to (the idea that Smart) is not a fool. He's not an idiot. He's not (Pink Panther Inspector) Clouseau. But he is someone that is counter-intuitive, a little over-eager and someone who maybe takes himself a little too serious at times."

But at the same time, Carell added, Smart is proficient.

"He's a good spy, he can handle a gun and he can take care of himself," Carell added. "I thing that was part of how I approached it. I thought of Smart was quirky, but not stupid."

Facing such an obstacle of tackling a character mastered by another actor isn't exactly new to Carell, who has endeared himself to fans (and irritated his on-screen employees) over the past four TV seasons as the quirky boss of the Dunder Mifflin paper company.

"What we're doing for 'Get Smart' is like the situation for the UK and American versions of 'The Office,'" Carell observed. "I saw what Ricky Gervais did and I knew that there was no way that I could his version of the character. All it would end up being would be sort of a pale imitation."

But then again, Carell acknowledged, there was odd strength to a recent, hilarious "Saturday Night Live" parody, which imagined a Japanese version of "The Office" that puts the others to shame.

"It's the genesis of them all," Carell said with a laugh. "Who would of thought?"