It is no secret that the making and shooting of Mr. and Mrs. Smith was nothing short of a disaster for paparazzi often hawked the film site like scavengers waiting for their prey or in this case, a single photo of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie so they could push forth whatever juicy narratives they wanted to tell.
The result was that the director, Doug Liman was once asked to share a single photo of the two stars together, and was offered a huge amount of $300,000 for it after Jennifer Aniston had filed for divorce.
Mr. And Mrs. Smith Director Was Offered $300,000 For A Single Brangelina Shot
It is no secret that the media often goes to extreme lengths to get what they want, whether it is a compelling new story or some candid shots. And so when Mr. and Mrs. Smith was being shot, amidst rumors of Brad Pitt having an affair with Angelina Jolie, naturally the film set was the target of media frenzy and attention.
And to make matters worse, it was also the time when Jennifer Aniston filed for divorce from her husband of five years. With rumors of her being cheated on, the paparazzi went above and beyond and offered over $300,000 to the director just to get a single picture of Pitt and Jolie, as Doug Liman revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly back in the day.
“They followed Brad the first day. Somebody said, That’s Brad arriving. We heard the helicopter before we heard him — a helicopter that had been following him since he left the Beverly Hills Hotel. That was taking it up to a new level. We were told that a photo of the two of them together would be worth $300,000. So we were all like, Hmmmm! I tell ya, I had to think twice about that one.”
And when the director didn’t budge, the paparazzi even got scanners to listen to walkie-talkies.
Doug Liman Had A Hard Time Shooting Mr. And Mrs. Smith
With so much media attention having two of the most famous stars on set together amidst rumors of them having an affair was more than the director Doug Liman could handle. In his interview with Entertainment Weekly, Liman revealed how the paparazzi had scanners to listen to their walkie-talkies and hence everyone had to be extremely careful with what they were communicating.
“There were always paparazzi. Crazy paparazzi. One of my producers, Lucas Foster, made it his mission to keep them away. I’d be getting ready to shoot, and there’d be a crane where I’m pointing the camera. I’d be like, Who put that there? Lucas would say, ‘I’m not moving that crane. There’s photographers in that hotel room up there, and I’m blocking them.’ It became a constant thing of, we’re going to have to paint it out [with CG erasure tricks]. Ten grand a shot.”
These extra costs did affect the overall shoot, however, despite the hurdles the film turned out to be a huge hit worldwide.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith can be rented on Google Play.
