Expect a 'sexualized' Donald Glover in the 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' reboot: 'I know how people are looking at me'
- Donald Glover stars alongside Maya Erskine in the new "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" reboot.
- Glover told Business Insider that his co-creator Francesca Sloane wanted him to be "sexualized."
Donald Glover looks extremely good in the "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" reboot — and rest assured, that's part of the point.
The new TV series, which is loosely based on the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie film of the same name, stars Glover and Maya Erskine ("PEN15") as John and Jane Smith — spies working for a mysterious intelligence agency that pairs them together as spies, with their novel marriage as a cover story.
With a writers' room composed almost entirely of women (plus Glover and his brother Stephen), the series has a certain "feminine gaze" about it, as Glover describes in the show's production notes. And part of that meant sexualizing its male lead.
"We really wanted it to be about intimacy, and making intimacy sexy," Glover told Business Insider at the show's New York City premiere on Wednesday. "And me and my brother were the only men on the writers' team."
Glover told BI that showrunner and co-creator Francesca Sloane, a prior collaborator who had worked with him on "Atlanta," told him that she wanted him to be "sexualized" in the show. Much of that, as he recounts in the production notes, comes through in the 1970s-inspired wardrobe, which saw him dressed in form-fitting, sheer, and tasteful clothing.
For the less-clad, shirtless scenes in the show, Glover underwent a pre-filming process of drinking orange juice and doing pushups. But even the fully clothed moments left an impression on him.
"It makes you feel vulnerable in a way where like, I just never thought of myself that way," Glover told BI. "It's funny. Now, I'm taking longer to get ready than my wife, because I know how people are looking at me.
"Even the way clothes were being put on me was just like, 'This is just to sexualize you.' It was a very new experience for me," Glover continued. "It was interesting, to say the least, but very vulnerable."
"Mr. and Mrs. Smith" premieres Friday, February 2 on Prime Video.