Producer Dylan Sellers was entranced by the unique concept behind Agent Cody Banks. "What captured my interest," says Sellers, "was the idea of a teenage secret agent who had actually been trained by the CIA of the United States, not some made-up organization. I hadn’t seen that before." When Sellers learned Frankie Muniz had already expressed early interest in the project, he knew the idea was a winner. Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated Muniz is one of the most respected young actors in entertainment, and Sellers knew he’d be perfect in Cody’s spy shoes. He just had to put all the pieces together.
Sellers approached MGM with the project, and MGM agreed it sounded like a winning proposition. They also knew they’d have to move quickly to get Muniz’s participation before he was obligated to return to the set of Malcolm in the Middle. Necessarily, things moved very quickly from that point on.
Sellers hired Harald Zwart to direct as the result of a rather unusual pitch. "Zwart’s agent, Nick Reed at ICM, sent me a commercial reel," says Sellers. "He said, ‘I’ll bet you $100 you can’t guess what one of these commercials is for until the end placement of the product.’ I watched every commercial and he was right. I loved them. They were funny, visual, and really great." Discussing the project, Sellers and Zwart found they shared the same excited vision for the film, and Sellers knew they’d found the right person to man the director’s chair.
The next step was to hire a great producer who could run the movie’s day-to-day activity. Having worked with him successfully on previous projects, MGM recommended David Nicksay. "I’d never worked with him," says Sellers, "but I knew him. He’s fantastic." With that team in place, they began to hire the rest of the cast and crew. “I’ve never worked on a movie that came together more quickly or perfectly," says Sellers.
Producer Nicksay says the film was so appealing to cast and crew simply because it was so much fun. "Every kid loves the idea of being a secret agent," he says. "Our own inner children wanted to be in this movie, so we were all drawn to working on it. It speaks to all of us – we all want to beat the bad guys and save the world. When Cody goes from being a regular teen to defeating evil and saving civilization, it’s really our dreams that come true."
What about Agent Cody Banks himself? Frankie Muniz saw the film as an opportunity to move to another level in his career while doing something new and exciting. "I knew it would be really cool," he says. "I’d never done a big action character. I saw The Bourne Identity, and Matt Damon has all these fight scenes where he beats up bad guys – I kept thinking, ‘Wow, that’s so awesome! I’ll be doing those moves in Agent Cody Banks.’ Helping girls, saving the world, cool cars and gadgets – it’s all pretty awesome."
It was actually a suggestion from Dylan Seller’s 8-year-old daughter Natalie that led to casting Hilary Duff as Muniz’s young co-star. "I told her about the movie," says Sellers, "and she said, ‘You’ve just got to get Lizzie McGuire. Dad, she’s perfect!’" As a reward for his daughter’s contribution, Sellers changed the name of the young heroine to Natalie.
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