Anne Hathaway wears a glittery, glam gown in "Get Smart," but she couldn't wait to shorten the dress (on camera) and shuck it (off).

It weighed 35 pounds, and Hathaway, who pairs it with heels and a chin-length wig for a dance scene, describes it as "rhinestone-encrusted chainmail." Being able to rip off the lower third so Agent 99 and Maxwell Smart can navigate an office protected by a web of laser beams was a "gift," she said from Paris, where she was helping to launch the Lancome fragrance Magnifique.

"I kind of never wanted to see it again, but it is spectacular-looking in the film, and I have great love and admiration for Deborah Scott, the costume designer, and I want to work with her again." After all, the goal for Agent 99 was "to look like I could walk down a runway while beating up ninjas."

In an homage to the 1960s television show, Hathaway wears clothes with a '60s vibe in the lines, accessories and even buttons. "In an inside nod to the original fans of the series, Barbara Feldon as 99 had a Chanel bag addiction, so I made sure that made it into the film."

But Agent 99 is about much more than her cool clothes. If the original character was a woman in a man's world, Hathaway weighed the spy's place in today's universe.

"It's not really a man's world anymore, it's just a workplace, and Agent 99 is no longer a woman that can keep up with the boys, she's a woman who sets the pace," said the 25-year-old star of "The Princess Diaries," "The Devil Wore Prada" and "Brokeback Mountain."

Hathaway started working out five to six months before production and later added martial arts training, "just so that I wouldn't look like a complete fool beating up bad guys, and then I made sure they hired the best stunt woman in the business and they did, so I look great in it."

Still, Hathaway sliced open her leg in one stunt, when her shins found a metal bar. "And 15 stitches later, the director got me a very nice watch."

Hathaway was in Montreal at the time of the accident, which left her with sensitivity but not pain. "As soon as they saw how serious the injury was -- you could see my shinbone and everything -- they found a great plastic surgeon who gave me nice neat scars," which disappear under makeup.

Like baby boomers who spent Saturday or Friday nights (NBC and, then, CBS) with "Get Smart," Hathaway watched the series as a girl, courtesy of Nick at Nite.

"I think when I was a kid, the humor really appealed to me. I loved the slapstick element of it, the relationship between Max and 99," and as an adult, realized the writers were gently skewering the political landscape of their time. "So I realized how ahead of its time it was."

It turns out Feldon, a graduate of Bethel Park High School, isn't the only Agent 99 with a Pittsburgh connection. Hathaway's father, Gerard, graduated from the University of Pittsburgh Law School.

The actress started the phone interview by volunteering that information, adding with a laugh, "So whenever you guys are in any kind of sports finals, suddenly he becomes a Pittsburgh native."

"Get Smart" not only required Hathaway to be nimble on her feet but with her timing as the straight woman to Steve Carell, her co-star. "Steve's a master at improv and so whenever he would go down that path, I would try to keep from getting in his way."

Asked if she matched him in that regard, she said, "It would be like trying to outpaint Michelangelo, which is just not going to happen."

Although Entertainment Weekly proclaimed her a contender for the A-list who is hot on the heels of Julia Roberts, Hathaway will always be Mia from "Princess Diaries" and its sequel for many girls. They approach her but typically don't say anything.

"They're shaking and kind of gasping for air. Usually it's their mothers doing a lot of talking. It's charming. I've got to say I handle that side of things a lot better now that I have adult fans as well."

With three projects in the pipeline, she has plenty of lures for new or old fans. She stars in a thriller about plane crash survivors called "Passengers," in the comedy "Bride Wars" with Kate Hudson and in Jonathan Demme's "Rachel Getting Married."

She plays Kym, a woman who has just finished a nine-month stint in rehab when she comes home for the weekend of her sister's wedding. The cast of what Sony Pictures Classics calls a "contemporary drama with an aggressive sense of humor" also stars Rosemarie DeWitt, Debra Winger, Bill Irwin and Anna Deavere Smith.

Hathaway doesn't want to slight "Get Smart" or other movies but says she is possibly more proud of "Rachel Getting Married" than anything she's ever made -- although "Brokeback" allowed her to think of herself as an artist or even an actress.

"That was only two weeks on a film, this was a year of collaboration and then a full shooting schedule. [Shooting 'Rachel'] was amazing. I found that to play this character -- it's not that I judge my characters when I play them, but I try to understand them, I try to analyze every single aspect of them.

"But with Kym, I realized about two months before we started filming that to analyze her would be a huge mistake, that all I could do was love her and love her enough to allow her to be confused. And I kind of started off from there."