Donald Glover chatted with Brad Pitt, the star of the original Mr. & Mrs. Smith film, ahead of assuming his role of John Smith in the new TV series adaptation of the same name. As for the advice his predecessor offered him? Well, it was the pits.
“He didn’t give me any real pointers,” Glover told his co-star Maya Erskine and host Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show on Tuesday night (Jan. 30), per HuffPost. “He kind of Brad Pitt-ed his way out of it. He just kind of, like, charmed his way. He’s like, ‘Yeah, you know, you’ll do great.’”
Glover shared that he had not seen the original 2005 film starring Pitt and Angelina Jolie (the ex-couple formerly known as “Brangelina”) prior to joining the new Prime Video series.
“People are, like, shocked out there,” he joked after witnessing the audience’s surprised reaction. “They’re like gasping, like, ‘Sacrilege!’”
“I hadn’t at the time. I’ve seen it, obviously, by now,” he clarified. “It would be kind of scary if I hadn’t.”
Recalling how someone advised he “see it if you want to re-do it,” Glover remembered thinking “‘OK, I’m not a big fan of remakes,’” but said that when he did finally watch the film, he was a fan. Recounting how his brother (screenwriter Stephen Glover) described the 2005 original, Donald called Mr. & Mrs. Smith “a great date movie.”
“It’s like boys versus girls, it’s a date movie,” he added. “And I was like, ‘Oh, let’s just make — maybe they know each other as spies, and it’s just a relationship, but with spies.”
He reiterated Pitt’s advice (or lack thereof) to Entertainment Tonight at Wednesday (Jan. 31) night’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith premiere, but clarified that the actor “was very, very sweet and nice” when they spoke.
“And that was very helpful,” Donald continued. “I just wanted to get a good understanding … It was great. He gave me good advice.”
Mr. & Mrs. Smith is streaming on Prime Video. The Tonight Show airs weeknights at 11:35/10:35c on NBC.
