Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)

Em: 00:02:02

Hi, everyone. I'm Em, and welcome to Verbal diorama, episode 366, Mr. And Mrs. Smith.

This is the podcast that's all about the history and legacy of movies, you know, and movies you don't. And baby, you couldn't find the button with both hands and a map, and ain't that the truth. Welcome to Verbal Diorama.

Whether you're a brand-new listener, whether you're a regular returning listener, thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for choosing to listen to this podcast.

I am so happy to have you here just generally, but also for the history and legacy of Mr. And Mrs. Smith.

Thank you so much to everyone who is coming back who listens to this podcast and has continued to listen and support this podcast over the last five, six. Five or six years. And I don't keep exact count, but I'd say high 50s, low 60s. I mean, I know I've been around the block and all, but 306 episodes?

Some were indeed two at a time. Thank you for your support. It genuinely means so much. And yes, I have been waiting to use those quotes in this episode. And honestly, I'm so.

I'm so pleased with myself right now. It's not quite the exact quote in the movie, but when he says five, she says six, and he says five or six. I was like, that just like, works so well.

Anyway, I'm delighted to have you here. Thank you for listening. Thank you for your continued support. It really does mean the world.

And this, again, is an episode that has been a long time coming to this podcast. I cannot tell you how long Mr. And Mrs. Smith has been on the roster.

I watched this movie back in: 2021

But this has just been one of those movies that's just continually being pushed in favour of other stuff. And I thought, you know what? Finally, let's get down to Mr. And Mrs. Smith, because this movie is fun, but it's got problems.

And we're going to talk about it. The last episode was on Tombstone. My very first western, would you believe? And I absolutely loved working on Tombstone.

Some movies are just perfect examples of why this podcast even exists. To celebrate everything about movie making, but also how difficult it can be in Hollywood to get stuff made.

The fact it exists at all, with all its various troubles, is miraculous, but also the fact that someone was trying to sabotage it. And that sabotage only seemed to strengthen it.

It's just such a brilliant, interesting story, and I'm so happy to have done that episode on Tombstone. Obviously, moving this week to Mr. And Mrs. Smith, this production had a whole different set of problems.

celebrity rumour mill in the: 2000

eautiful couples of the early: 2000

Apart, they were two of the most glamorous, beautiful and successful people in the world. Together, they were a phenomenon never before matched up. That changed when Brad Pitt filmed his new action spy comedy movie.

Here's the trailer for Mr. And Mrs. Smith.

Em: 00:07:43

John and Jane Smith are a seemingly ordinary suburban married couple who have grown bored and distant in their relationship.

Unbeknownst to each other, they are both highly skilled assassins working for competing agencies.

When they are independently assigned to eliminate the same target, their secret identities are exposed and they discover that their next mission is to kill each other.

What follows is an escalating battle of wits and weaponry as the married assassins use their professional skills against one another, ultimately forcing them to confront both their crumbling marriage and their deadly careers, while trying to survive their employer's attempts to eliminate them both. Let's run through the cast of this movie. We all know who's in this movie, but we're gonna have to talk about it.

We have Brad Pitt as John Smith, Angelina Jolie as Jane Smith, Vince Vaughan as Eddie, Adam Brody as Benjamin the Tank Dans, Kerry Washington as Jasmine, Keith David as Father, Chris White as Martin Coleman, Michelle Monaghan as Gwen, and Angela Bassett, uncredited, as Atlanta. Mr. And Mrs. Smith was written by Simon Kinberg and was directed by Doug Liman.

It's safe to say that screenwriter Simon Kinberg has had somewhat of a meteoric rise in Hollywood.

versity School of the Arts in: 2003

ertainment for six figures in: 2000

of the biggest movies of the: 2000

n prequel series in the early: 2000

screenwriter in Hollywood in: 2016

e Mr. And Mrs. Smith in April: 2005

s many think, a remake of the: 1996

imon Kinberg's script for the: 2005

remake of Alfred Hitchcock's: 1941

Liman was sent the script in: 2002

Doug Liman wanted to work with Nicole Kidman.

Nicole Kidman then signed on to the movie, but scheduling conflicts with the Stepford Wives running two and a half months behind schedule led to her leaving Mr. And Mrs. Smith without a female lead. And just imagine how different the world would be if Kidman had starred in this movie. Without Kidman, though, Pitt also left the movie. Literal Mr. Smith. Will Smith was considered. Catherine Zeta Jones was considered.

The pairing of Johnny Depp and Cate Blanchett was considered, but Depp was exhausted and Blanchett was filming the Aviator.

They also considered getting Brad Pitt back and pairing him with his ex girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow in an art imitating life scenario of ex lovers playing a married couple who hate each other. Can you imagine how awkward that would have been? Aishwarya Rai was approached, but she was uncomfortable with the amount of passion shown on screen.

Gwen Stefani also auditioned and famously mentioned in an interview that she was beaten to the role by Angelina Jolie. Now, Angelina Jolie was on the up and up.

r winning an Academy Award in: 2000

to cut him off financially in: 1995

directorial debut, which was: 1996

The movie was a big success in the film festival circuit and caught the eye of notorious bad guy and criminal Harvey Weinstein, who offered $5.5 million for the rights to Swingers.

Let's just say it was a sore point between Liman and Favreau because Favreau did not make 5.5 million off of swingers, despite it being his idea and his script. Now, to say Liman's directorial style is chaotic is somewhat of an understatement. On the Bourne Identity, a movie that I go into in episode 263.

His rebellious, almost relaxed, aloof style of directing annoyed a lot of people in high places who claimed he wasted studio money on his own amusement.

After spending years obtaining the rights to Bourne, developing it, fighting to get it filmed, Liman was fired and Paul Greengrass was brought in to replace him on the Bourne Supremacy. So basically, instead of a Bourne movie, Doug Liman worked on this movie instead.

Reportedly, the script for this movie was rewritten 50 times, with the original being much funnier than what ended up on screen.

Several writers contributed to rewrites, including famed script doctor Carrie Fisher, Terence Winter, Jez and John Henry Butterworth, Akiva Goldsman, Ted Griffin and Kieran and Michelle Mulroney. Despite the rewrites, Kinberg retains sole screenplay credit.

's Twelve at the end of April: 2004

g schedules, January to April: 2004

One of the first scenes in the movie would cause issues after its release though, as we flashback to John and Jane meeting in Colombia, specifically Bogota.

otage from another movie, the: 1994

A quick Google image search shows you that this isn't Bogota. Bogota is a high altitude city in the Andes with booming skyscrapers, not a tiny village with a hot, humid climate.

Clear and Present Danger actually filmed this shot in rural Mexico. When the shot was recycled for Mr. And Mrs. Smith, the Colombian government publicly criticized the production for misrepresenting Bogota.

A letter was sent from the secretary General of Bogota's mayor's office, Enrique Borda, to Doug Liman and producer Arnold Michum, condemning the demonstration of, quote, a complete level of ignorance by portraying Bogota as incipient, showing, quote, a backward capital with little hotel infrastructure, where poverty prevails, depressed, disorderly, with high levels of violence, ultimately totally chaotic and unattractive, unquote. Border also invited the director, producer and stars to visit Bogota to experience the city in all its glory.

It's not known if anyone took the chance to take a trip to Colombia, but a little bit of due diligence as to whether the scene depicted Bogota probably wouldn't have gone amiss. But there's likely a good reason how the Bogota thing was missed.

s suddenly a hot topic in May: 2004

Specifically in an issue of Us magazine.

econd shoot started in August: 2004

third shoot started in March: 2005

ivorced Billy Bob Thornton in: 2003

Helicopters would follow the pair, and the going rate for a paparazzi shot of Pitt and Jolie together was allegedly $300,000. Paparazzi used a scanner to listen to on set walkie talkies, and so they had to be careful how they referred to Pitt and Jolie when on set.

Producer Lucas Foster erected a crane so that photographers in a hotel room couldn't get that coveted shot of Pitt and Jolie together acting out a scene. But the crane was also blocking the camera shot, so it had to be edited out in post.

Brangelina became the hot topic of conversation in gossip magazines and online. Even the star's trailers had to be moved on set to avoid the paparazzi lenses.

The pair's sex scene had to be carefully edited, mostly to get the coveted PG13 rating, but also to avoid alienating the audience, who may be huge Jennifer Aniston fans and think Jolie and Pitt were really getting down to it and it was too sexy. And here's the thing, no woman can seduce a man away. Men are going to leave if they want to leave.

But Angelina Jolie at the time was labeled as the seductress. Jennifer Aniston was the girl next door. This was the epitome of the Madonna Whore complex. And no one knows what really happened at the time.

And to be honest, both women have been pretty respectful as time has gone on. But even the music in the scene had to be questioned as to whether it was too sexy. Doug Liman had to fight for the Joe Strummer song Mondo Bongo.

And the thing was, Angelina Jolie was incredibly sexy. She was noted as being very comfortable with her sexuality, very open about what she liked.

And both of these actors were playing against type in the movie, with Jolie playing the suburban housewife and Pitt with the weapons filled garden shed. At the time, Pitt was more of a homemaker into interior design and probably wanting to buy similar curtains.

mith residence were filmed at: 1565

The restaurant and dance club scenes were filmed at the Cicada restaurant and Club on Olive street in downtown Los Angeles. The exteriors of the construction site were filmed at Caltrans District 7 headquarters in downtown LA's Main Street.

And Additional scenes were filmed at the Quality coffee shop on 7th street in downtown LA and Vincent St. Thomas Bridge in San Pedro, California. Jane Smith's office at I-Temp was filmed at 570 Lexington Avenue in New York, and filming also took place in Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

And this being a Doug Liman movie, as well as taking into account Pitt's contractual commitments to Oceans 12 stopping and starting the shoot twice, plus reshoots, unsurprisingly, this movie became expensive.

Liman's textbook disorganized shooting would lead to new sets being built at the last minute and anywhere between 30 to 50 alternative endings being written. It all led to Mr. And Mrs. Smith coming in $26 million over budget.

While the Smith family home was indeed a real house in Pasadena and is still a real house in Pasadena, it obviously wasn't actually blown up in real life.

The actors filmed the live action plate of them reacting to the house exploding, but the production actually blew up a model version of the house and then added CG debris. Terrence Stamp and Jacqueline Bisset were originally cast as the villains, and a showdown ending was filmed that was never used.

Once the ending with Stamp and Bisset was discarded, another ending was filmed, this time with Keith David and Angela Bassett being revealed to be the villains fighting against John and Jane. While Keith David ended up with a credited role as Father in the film, Bassett is uncredited as the voice of John Smith's boss.

Atlanta. Liman would say in an interview that it was important to not give that final resolution because you don't just fight for your marriage and then stop fighting. So the big boss reveal was scrapped and they reshot scenes with the marriage therapist played off screen by William Fitchner.

There was also a potential lawsuit by author Gavin Bishop, writer of the Secret Lives of Mr. And Mrs. Smith, a children's book about a couple who left each morning. He pretended to go to the office, she pretended to do housework, but they were both actually spies.

e book was first published in: 1997

Six months later, the film came out in their native Christchurch, and his wife was adamant that it was an adaptation of his book, and everyone started congratulating him on this adaptation. So Bishop decided to speak to a lawyer to file a copyright suit.

However, he was advised taking on 20th Century Fox, Regency Summit and Weed Road Pictures would probably be incredibly expensive, and there was no guarantee that a small New Zealand author would win. And so the plagiarism accusations went no further and this is the perfect time to segue into the obligatory Keanu reference of this episode.

And if you don't know what that is, it's where I try to link the movie that I'm featuring with Keanu Reeves for no reason other than he is the best of men, as I'm going to prove later. Now, if Speed taught us anything, it's that relationships that start under intense circumstances never last.

And I think this movie is the perfect example of that. Other than Speed, obviously, which is the other perfect example of that, because spoiler alert.

The relationship that started under the intense circumstances of this movie didn't last. But before we get into all of that, I just want to mention the score by John Powell and also the song Express Yourself.

The Messian Worker remix by Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band always reminds me of the fight scene in this movie. There is some songs that just take you straight to a particular scene in a movie and that song always takes me to this movie.

Now whether you see it as a blessing or a curse, the movie basically marketed itself with the whole Brangelina thing. Though they both denied an on set relationship, they later admitted they fell in love while filming.

In March: 2005

June: 2005

Mr. And Mrs. Smith would stay in the top 10 for six weeks and despite it being an expensive movie to make, costing $110 million, 40 million of which paid for Pitt and Jolie. They both received $20 million each.

Mr. And Mrs. Smith grossed $186.3 million domestically in the US and $301 million internationally, for a total worldwide gross of $487.3 million. At the time, it was the highest grossing film for both Pitt and Jolie, but that's since been surpassed.

enth highest grossing film of: 2005

shoot for W magazine in July: 2005

All the while, Mr. And Mrs. Smith was still out in cinemas and still doing business, and the celebrity magazines are having the best time selling hundreds of thousands of copies purely based on the phenomenon of Brangelina, while also still blaming Jennifer Aniston for not wanting children and making him leave. You cannot make this up. Not that it's anyone's business, but Aniston later confirmed she was experiencing fertility issues at the time.

orce was finalized in January: 2006

Rotten Tomatoes has it at a score of 60% with a consensus reading of Although this action romance suffers from weak writing and one too many explosions, the chemistry generated by on screen couple Pitt and Jolie is palpable enough to make this a thoroughly enjoyable summer action flick, which is a pretty accurate description actually. The chemistry in this movie is absolutely top notch and remains completely brilliant, but the writing is very weak.

A sequel to this movie was discussed with Pitt and Jolie, but they were dissatisfied with the story ideas which mostly revolved around the couple separating yet again or the couple now with children. There was an unused ending for Mr. And Mrs. Smith that had the characters of John and Jane interacting with a young daughter.

In: 2007

But the network decided not to commission the series and obviously we got the Amazon prime series Mr. And Mrs. Smith starring Donald Glover and Maya Erskine, which I saw a few episodes of and I actually thought was a lot of fun. I liked their chemistry, but as a long form show it was obviously very different to the source material.

The series has since been renewed for a second season. Mr. And Mrs. Smith is a fun, silly movie that never pretends to be anything but.

However, any chat about this movie can't ignore the real life relationship that played out behind the scenes and what happened to Brangelina.

g time capsule of a moment in: 2005

However they claim it happened and then in life depicting art started to resent each other, hate each other, and viciously fight with each other. A fight that has played out in multiple lawsuits. Unlike the movie, there was no happy ever after together, but instead it's apart.

We're never going to know what truly happened with their relationship, but it all plays out here on screen, a story of initial attraction, intense chemistry, lust, despite all the while pretending to be something they're not. That is acting, the grandiose celebrity of it all, followed by the mundanity of the relationship. The spark is gone.

It was the general public's fascination with Brangelina that made audiences see this movie, to see this partnership sizzle on screen. And it really does sizzle from this movie.

A marriage ended, a relationship started, which presumably started out very loving and supportive, and six children came of it, followed by another marriage and another divorce. That's some legacy for any movie, but it's also somewhat tainted.

In August: 2016

Jolie alleged that while on the flight, Pitt grabbed her by the head, pulled her into the plane bathroom and threw her against the bathroom wall, as well as verbally abused and poured alcohol on his family during the flight from France to la. He also punched the plane ceiling numerous times.

He also allegedly lunged at one of the children who was trying to protect their mother, allegedly grabbing one of his children by the throat and striking another child in the face. The six children were aged between eight and 15 at the time.

as investigated by the FBI in: 2016

It's with this knowledge that the legacy of Mr. And Mrs. Smith, with all its sexy chemistry and passion, also conveys a level of violence that also feels eerily prescient.

Knowing Jolie's accusations of spousal abuse and the fact that three of his own children have publicly denounced him by removing the surname Pitt from their names and retaining the Jolie part, which speaks volumes about how they feel about their father's actions towards their mother.

Instagram on Father's Day in: 2020

In a May 27GQ interview, Pitt revealed he'd quit drinking and smoking cannabis, so at least he's taking steps to be clean and sober. Adam Brody, who I've barely mentioned, nor have I even really mentioned, Kerry Washington, who deserves way better than this movie, gives up.

And Vince Vaughan, who interestingly isn't listed at all in the end title card credits but is in the actual list of credits.

Brody's character Benjamin the Tank Dans can be seen wearing a Fight Club T shirt while being questioned by John Smith, which is an obvious shout out to one of Brad Pitt's most famous movies.

It does beg the question of who stars in Fight Club in this universe, but this is a movie you don't really question because if you do, you realise it makes no sense. I really like this movie. I've seen it several times since it came out, but it hits differently now, no pun intended.

The characters of John and Jane are clearly written by a man in that John is allowed to be comedic whereas Jane is given very little in the way of personality. That's not stuck up demanding wife. That bugs me. Also, the plot holes infuriate me a little.

You're telling me this is two of the best spy agencies in the world competing in the same city.

They know of each other's existence but have no idea that their top two agents are married and when they met they didn't do extensive background checks on each other and the companies just let their agent marry someone who they hadn't checked and John's agency didn't know that the guy paid to act like Jane's father was actually an actor. And after the shootout at ikea, it's not ikea, but it looks like an ikea.

There's no repercussions, they just go back to the agencies who were trying to kill them or they destroyed both agencies or they're still being pursued and just find the time to have lots of sex and go to couples therapy while being hunted. This movie is infuriating, not to mention the fact they both go out late into the evening.

John gets drunk, plays poker and gets lucky, while Jane assassinates an arms dealer dressed in black leather and fishnet. AB sails down the building, gets into a taxi. Great shot, by the way. I love it.

But then both are back, ready to go to their neighbour's party straight after. And we know it's straight after because Jane is still wearing the black fishnet tights. Make the timeline work. Anyway, it's crazy to me.

The one tiny change in this movie will Smith as John or Nicole Kidman as Jane and the whole Brangelina craze ceases to exist. The butterfly effect of this movie is huge. One small decision changed so many lives and created new ones.

And now Mr. And Mrs. Smith exists on TV, slightly different but more fleshed out. That reminds me, I should definitely finish season one. Thank you for listening.

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts on Mr. And Mrs. Smith and thank you for your continued support of this podcast. If you want to help this podcast grow and reach more people, you could tell your friends and family about this podcast or about this episode.

You could leave a rating or review wherever you found this podcast. Or you can find me, follow me at Verbal Diorama across Social media where you can like post, share posts and comment on posts. It all helps.

If you like this episode of Mr. And Mrs. Smith, you might also like episode 249, which was one of those two at a time episodes that I mentioned earlier, which is on Lara Croft Tomb Raider and Lara Croft Tomb Raider, the Cradle of Life. And also check out episode 263 on the Bourne Identity, because that goes into a little bit more of Doug Liman and the Doug Liman of everything.

Some of his movies are genuinely terrific. Edge of Tomorrow is still one of the most underrated gems of sci fi that I think ever exists, but that was a fun episode.

So if you enjoyed this one, you'll also enjoy that one. As always, give me feedback. Let me know what you think of my episode recommendations.

on Mr. And Mrs. Smith, and in: 1994

riting A Time to Kill. But in: 1997

It starred George Clooney, Chris o'Donnell, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Uma Thurman and Alicia Silverstone. The episode I did last year on Batman Forever was a huge success, one of the biggest episodes of the year.

And so it makes complete sense to do what I set out to do originally and finish the original Batman quadrilogy with Batman and Robin. So join me next week for the history and legacy of that campy thrill ride that is Batman and Robin.

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I would really love to hear from you for any episode of this podcast, but if you enjoyed Mr. And Mrs. Smith, feel free to get in touch and let me know.

Speaker A: 00:38:57

And finally

Em: 00:39:55

Bye.