‘Atlanta’ returns with ‘tighter’ script after four years
Show creator and actor Donald Glover and his cast and crew premiere third season of “Atlanta” after four-year hiatus. (March 25)
AP
Donald Glover knows he’s no Brad Pitt, and in his new “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” series, he’s not trying to be.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the actor and show’s co-creator talks about the moody new show that is “going to be different for a lot of people.”
The eight-episode series, to premiere early next year on Amazon Prime Video, stars Glover opposite “Pen15” star Maya Erskine. The “Atlanta” actor said he’s hoping for strong reactions to the series.
“You can always go back and watch the old one, but this one gives you a different feeling. People are definitely going to be shocked,” he said. “I just know how much people love the other one. So if everybody’s like, ‘Eh,’ we didn’t do a good job.
“I hope some people are like, ‘This is better than the original,’ and some people are like, ‘This is far worse,'” he continued.
Co-created by Glover and “Atlanta” writer Francesca Sloane, the series follows Glover and Erskine as the titular spy couple, originally played by Pitt and Angelina Jolie in the 2005 film of the same name.
The plot in the reboot is completely different, and takes a deeper approach to the spy thriller.
In the film, the married couple realize they’re both spies working for rival agencies and have been hired to kill each other. In the show, two lonely strangers sign up for a mysterious spy agency, unaware their new identities would be as a married couple.
The arranged marriage of sorts is tested while on high-stakes missions throughout the series.
“I had never seen the movie, which I know was sacrilege,” Glover told the outlet, adding that he decided to check it out after a producer friend acquired the rights. “I watched it and honestly, I was like, ‘I don’t understand it.’ I mean, I get why it’s iconic because of the people starring in it — it’s just two gorgeous people in this situation. But the story I didn’t quite understand. I called my brother and he was like, ‘This is just a great date movie. It’s boys vs. girls. What else do you want?'”
Glover said he wanted a deeper approach to the show, about marriage and relationships.
“Why do people even get married anymore? Half of it ends in divorce — what’s the purpose?” Glover said. “Let’s make a show dealing with relationships, but from this point of view, centering more on really what a marriage is and trust and teamwork and loneliness and all that stuff. I just wanted it to be something that spoke to people right now because in a time of abundance, why do we feel lonely?”
Phoebe Waller-Bridge was originally set to play Mrs. Smith and serve as an executive producer before she exited the role for “creative differences.”
With Erskine now in the role, she told the publication that she jumped at the chance to play a more relatable version of Jolie’s character.
“I tend to play characters that feel like rejects of society, and my Jane felt like it was the reject version of Angelina Jolie,” she said. “Angelina and Brad are untouchable in that you can’t recreate that, and Donald and I are just so different so it felt exciting to play a couple that you might recognize as your friends or yourselves.”
But Erskine emphasizes that the show is still very much a spy thriller.
“You get your cake and you get to eat it too, because you get the explosions, the chases, the fight scenes and the sex, but you also get to see the nuances of a relationship, with the fart jokes and what it’s like to live with somebody and be annoyed by their mouth noises after being together for six months,” she said.
Glover has apparently been watching “The Golden Bachelor,” too, comparing the “Smith” reboot to the reality show.
“You watch ‘The Golden Bachelor,’ and it’s such a different show than the regular (‘Bachelor’) — you actually care about these people, and because they’re older, it feels like this may not happen again,” he said. “Sorry, I watched ‘The Golden Bachelor’ last night so it’s top of mind, but you hear what I’m saying. It’s really about their relationship and can they trust each other? That’s all spying is.”
All eight episodes of Mr. & Mrs. Smith debut on Feb. 2, 2024, on Amazon Prime Video.
Laura Davis is an entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to Broadway, she offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
