Donald Glover spills on chat with Brad Pitt at UK premiere of Mr & Mrs Smith remake

Glover visited London with co-star Mary Erskine ahead of the release of Prime Video's spin on the 2005 classic film
"Mr & Mrs Smith" UK Premiere - VIP Access
Donald Glover in London on Wednesday night
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
Naomi Clarke18 January 2024
The Weekender

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Donald Glover has said he talked with Brad Pitt when creating the TV series remake of Mr & Mrs Smith but wanted to make the characters “everyman” figures this time.

Hollywood actor Pitt and Angelina Jolie starred in the hit 2005 action comedy which sees a bored married couple discover they are assassins hired by competing agencies to kill each other.

Singer and actor Glover co-created the new Prime Video version which offers a different spin on the story, as well as taking on Pitt’s character John Smith.

"Mr & Mrs Smith" UK Premiere - Arrivals
Donald Glover and co-star Maya Erskine in London on Wednesday night
Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images

Speaking at the film’s premiere in London, Glover joked to the PA news agency: “I’m just like Brad Pitt, just like him, I think he would say that too.”

He added: “I actually got to talk to him about it.

“I just wanted to make a character that felt like everyman, it’s on purpose their names are John and Jane, you kind of put the character on them.

“I wanted to make somebody that other dudes could watch and relate to because I feel like the entire series is just about relationships, at the end of the day.”

Glover stars opposite Maya Erskine, who plays his wife Jane.

The series will follow two strangers who land jobs at a spy agency that offers them a life of espionage, wealth and travel – but the catch is that they will have new identities in an arranged marriage.

Reflecting on how they balanced the comedy and action in the show, Glover said: “We tried really hard to make all the jokes really just stuff that actually would happen in a relationship.

“And then all the action… the mix of the extraordinary and the ordinary, that was most of the time with us, we were just trying to make it something that was relatable.”

Glover, who is known as Childish Gambino in the music world, also revealed that he is not sure when he will release new music.

He said: “Man, I wish I knew. I really do. If I knew I would tell you right now, but I don’t. I’m just making stuff right now.”

He released his last album, 3.15.20, in 2020 and was featured on an EP titled Swarm with Ni’Jah and Kirby last year.

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