Donald Glover is the new Brad Pitt, at least when it comes to Prime Video’s eight-episode “Mr.” and Mrs. Smith” series. Glover starred in and co-produced the reimagining of Pitt’s 2005 action-comedy, which famously paired the A-list actor with Angelina Jolie.
“I’m not a huge fan of remakes, so it was a big deal to adapt it,” Glover told Entertainment Tonight at the show’s premiere. “Once I saw the original movie, I thought, ‘This is a good date movie.’ And I was like, ‘Maybe I could make a good date show out of this?’ Like, you know, something my wife and I could watch together.
Glover confirmed that he “approached Brad” when he was first getting ready to play the shared role of John Smith, but the Oscar winner didn’t have much intel to share.
“Brad was like, you know, he just worked his way out of it with the help of Brad Pitt,” Glover said. “I was like, ‘I just need some tips,’ and he just charmed the hell out of it. He was like, ‘Oh, you’ll do great, kid.’ That kind of thing.”
“I mean, he was very, very sweet and nice Was Very helpful,’ Glover said. “I just wanted to get a good understanding… It was great. He gave me good advice.”
The new “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” paired Glover with “Penn15” favorite Maya Erskine. The Prime Video series brings a different twist to Jolie and Pitt’s film by having John and Jane Smith become aware of each other’s careers as spies. In the show, the two are forced to go undercover as a married couple. In the film version John and Jane got married without the knowledge that each of them was a spy.
Diversity Television critic Alison Harman praised the new “Mr.” And Mrs. Smith” gave a “better” take on the film’s conceits, saying: “The show is far more sad and low-key than its logline suggests…Mr. And Mrs. Smith” is distinctly contemporary, from the charmingly awkward, mumblecore-adjacent banter between Glover and Erskine’s John and Jane to the luxuriously appointed New York townhouse where they’re stationed. From the moment John and Jane conduct their job interviews in an ordinary office building with a faceless screen, ‘Mr. And Mrs. Smith feels more like ‘Black Mirror’ than ‘Mission: Impossible.’
All eight episodes of “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” will stream on Prime Video on February 2.
