Donald Glover was recently seen in the Amazon Prime Video series Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which he co-created along with his Atlanta writer Francesca Sloane. Glover starred along with PEN15 star Maya Erskine in the series which was a remake of the classic Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie starrer of the same name.
While Glover’s show centered around two spies who have to pretend to be a married couple as they go on a mission, Pitt’s film was based on a married couple who discover that they are agents of rival spy agencies during the course of their marriage. Glover mentioned that he had never watched the film when he was first approached and when he did, he was not impressed.
Donald Glover Did Not Like Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Donald Glover was known for co-creating the FX show Atlanta and the Prime Video miniseries Swarm. Glover won two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globed as the creator, director, and star of the surrealist comedy series Atlanta. The series had its final season in 2022 and since then, Glover has been busy with Swarm and Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
Glover was reportedly approached by New Regency, the production house behind the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie starrer to remake the film. However, according to The Hollywood Reporter, he refused as he was not keen on doing remakes. Donald Glover also mentioned that he had never seen the film and was only aware of the scandal between Jolie and Pitt.
Donald Glover mentioned that when he found people impressed with the film, he was still convinced that the appeal was only related to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s chemistry. The duo reportedly met and fell in love on the sets of the film, when Pitt was married to Jennifer Aniston. This gave rise to many tabloids following the couple everywhere, including reshoots.
Donald Glover mentioned to The Hollywood Reporter how he was still convinced that the appeal of the film lay in the lead pair’s image,
“When people are like, ‘I love this movie,’ I’m like, ‘What did you like?’ Not to say that the movie’s necessarily bad, but I think it just had to do with the chemistry and what was happening between them.”
The relationship between Pitt and Jolie was heavily publicized at the time. According to EW, the production had to take extra measures to make sure that the paparazzi would not get their hands on the couple’s moments. The team also reportedly had to be wary of what they said on their walkie-talkies as they were being tuned into by the paparazzi.
Donald Glover Agreed To Remake Mr. & Mrs. Smith For One Reason
As mentioned, Donald Glover was not a fan of the movie when he was first approached to helm Mr. & Mrs. Smith. The actor mentioned that he watched the film after being approached and he still was not blown away by the film. He recalled that he rang his brother, writer Stephen Glover and mentioned the film, “And then I hit my brother up and was like, ‘What the f*ck is this?’”
Stephen Glover, who co-wrote some episodes of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, mentioned that Donald Glover watched the movie with the wrong perspective and that he only saw it as a ‘date movie.’ Glover recalled to The Hollywood Reporter,
“He’s like, ‘It’s a good date movie. Who cares if they did it well?’ Everybody gets to pretend to be Brad or Angelina, and you go home holding hands like, ‘We’re not a bad team.’ And he’s right.”
But Donald Glover then decided to make the show after centering the storyline on the relationship between the characters. He first collaborated with Fleabag creator and star Phoebe Waller-Bridge to co-create and star along with him in the show. But after working on it for a while, the two decided to part ways as they had creative differences.
Glover then reportedly collaborated with his Atlanta and Swarm co-writer Francesca Sloane to develop the show. Maya Erskine was cast in the role of Jane Smith. The show deviated from the film’s central premise of a married couple discovering that they were spies. Instead, the show put two spies who had never worked with each other to pretend that they were a married couple.
