Donald Glover (Left) and Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Right)
Courtesy of Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Donald Glover and Phoebe Waller-Bridge will be putting a new spin on “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” for New Regency and Amazon Prime Video. The series, which is based on the 2005 hit New Regency film, is due in 2022.
Glover and Waller-Bridge will star in and executive produce the series,
made the announcement via social media, posting a video to Instagram Stories with details of the project. Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke also posted the news of the new show to her Twitter account on Friday.
“Talk about the dream team! Donald and Phoebe are two of the most talented creators and performers in the world. It’s truly a dream for us, as it will be for our global audience, to have these two forces of nature collaborating as a powerhouse creative team,” Salke said in a statement. “’Mr. and Mrs. Smith’ is an iconic property, and we can’t wait to see how Donald, Phoebe and Francesca make it their own. We’re thrilled to be working with them, and with such great partners at New Regency.”
The new take on “Mr and Mrs. Smith” is neither Glover nor Waller-Bridge’s first project with the studio. Waller-Bridge created and starred in the hit series “Fleabag,” which collected six Emmys, including Outstanding Comedy Series in 2019, while Glover’s musical film “Guava Island” is also an Amazon Original.
The series was co-created with Francesca Sloane, who will serve as showrunner, and has her own overall deal at Amazon Studios. New Regency’s Yariv Milchan and Michael Schaefer and Wells Street Films’ Jenny Robins will executive produce.
Said Yariv Milchan and Michael Schaefer of New Regency: “Having had the pleasure of successful collaborations with the incredibly talented Donald Glover, most recently on ‘Guava Island,’ we all started talking about other projects to do together and when he suggested the idea of a new take and iteration on the New Regency film, ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith,’ we jumped at the chance to get going right away. Adding Phoebe and her company Wells Street Films as a collaborator and co-star takes everything up another level and makes the project worthy of a reimagining for both new audiences and past fans of the original film. We are so excited to be working with Donald, Phoebe, Francesca and the entire team at Amazon Studios.”
The 2005 film from Doug Liman, starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, was a massive hit, grossing almost $500 million worldwide. Alfred Hitchcock also directed a screwball marriage comedy titled “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” in 1941, starring Robert Montgomery and Carole Lombard.
Glover and Waller-Bridge starred as Lando Calrissian and droid L3-37 in 2018’s “Solo: A Star Wars Story,”, displaying noteworthy natural chemistry and comedic relief to the high-flying space adventure. And since, the Emmy Award-winning creators of “Atlanta” and “Fleabag,” have been publicly supportive of each others’ careers. In 2019, Glover shared his admiration while presenting Waller-Bridge with the British Artist of the Year honor at the British Academy Britannia Awards.
Variety's Angelique Jackson contributed to this post.
https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/donald-glover-phoebe-waller-bridge-mr-mrs-smith-1234907452/
