About this episode

Phil and Emily discuss the film Mr. & Mrs. Smith with guest Lindsey Romain, exploring its production and impact.

Phil and Emily bring in writer Lindsey Romain for the fourth installment of the Angelina Jolie action films miniseries, and it is the one LaToya Ferguson was promised. Lindsey's work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Vulture, and Bright Wall/Dark Room, and she saw this movie four times in theaters as a teenager. She still has the promotional pin from when she worked at a movie theater in high school. She is the right person for this. Mr. and Mrs. Smith follows two upper-class assassins who are also, it turns out, married to each other and working for rival agencies. It opened June 10th, 2005 against Madagascar, Star Wars Episode III, The Longest Yard, and The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3D, and made $487 million on a $110 million budget. The script originated as Simon Kinberg's graduate thesis. Carrie Fisher, Akiva Goldsman, Jez and John Henry Butterworth, Ted Griffin, and Terrence Winter all took passes at it. Angela Bassett and Keith David filmed scenes that were cut entirely. What remained was Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, which Roger Ebert correctly identified as the only thing that needed to remain. The conversation covers the Doug Liman of it all, specifically…

People in this episode

Hosts: Phil, Emily

Guest: Lindsey Romain

Topics covered

• action films
• movie analysis
• film industry
• celebrity culture
• comedy

Keywords

• Mr. & Mrs. Smith
• Lindsey Romain
• Brad Pitt
• Angelina Jolie
• action films
• film analysis
• Doug Liman

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Mr. & Mrs. Smith

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