The Co-Creator Of Donald Glover’s New ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’ Series Has Penned An Open Letter To, Among Others, The Trolls

With less than a month to until its Amazon Prime Video premiere, Mr. & Mrs. Smith co-creator Francesca Sloane has written an open letter about the reboot series starring Donald Glover and Maya Erskine.

According to Sloane, she was surprised to receive a pitch from Glover to reboot the iconic Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt film. However, Glover was intent on subverting the blockbuster movie by “whole-heartedly focusing on the characters, on their relationship, on their marriage.” More importantly, the two leads would not be insanely good-looking A-listers.

“What would a series feel like if our heroes weren’t the two most beautiful people on the planet, but instead, were two lonely people, two underdogs, wanting more from life than what they currently had?” Sloane wrote. “What if our John and Jane could be anyone, could be you and me?”

She also addressed the “trolls,” who immediately began criticizing the project the second it was announced.

Via Amazon Studios:

While we asked questions, so did the internet trolls. Once we were announced, we saw the comment, “Who needs this show?” We didn’t blame them. In a culture heavily inundated with remakes, this was a reasonable reaction. No one would need a show that retold the same blockbuster movie. But what we set out to do was to make something wholly original. This show is about a relationship, it’s about being clumsy humans. It’s about being relatable. John and Jane are offered the chance of a lifetime, whole new identities, an opportunity to be super spies. Metaphorically, though, they are C- students being thrown into an AP course. The stylish clothes (they’ll wear them), the iconic, international set-pieces (we’ll have them), the exciting shoot-em-ups (they’ll be there), will all be background to the raw and emotional components of John and Jane navigating the milestones of a real connection. We’ll watch their arranged marriage become something authentic.

And Sloane isn’t kidding about making their marriage more relatable than the film, which saw the ultra-beautiful Jolie and Pitt look absolutely amazing and badass for the entire runtime.

“We’ll experience them saying their first ‘I love you’ and experience them first farting around each other,” Sloane wrote. “We’ll see them engage with in-laws, personal rituals/habits, sex, the topic of kids, jealousy, and eventually using each other’s deepest vulnerabilities as leverage when sh*t hits the fan. All of this while running around the world and completing high risk missions.”

Mr. & Mrs. Smith premieres February 2 on Amazon Prime Video.

(Via Amazon Studios)