Donald Glover and Maya Erskine spoke to HollywoodReporter.com about Prime Video’s reimagining of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and during the conversation Glover spoke about why he agreed to return to the role of Lando Calrissian for the upcoming movie.
You and your brother are also writing a Star Wars project centered on Lando Calrissian. I remember you telling me about your sit-down with Billy Dee Williams years ago. You were going on and on about how you were thinking about the character and then you asked Billy what he thought, and …
GLOVER He was like, “I don’t know. Be charming.” And he wasn’t looking at me. That was my favorite part. I think a waitress or something went by.
ERSKINE Didn’t Brad Pitt say the same thing to you [about Mr. & Mrs. Smith]? Like, “Just be charming.”
GLOVER He kind of did. He’s like, “Oh yeah, I’m sure you’ll do a great job.” And they’re both right, in a sense: Just do what works for you.
Was taking on this Lando project an easy yes?
GLOVER No. Maya and I talk about nos a lot, it’s the only power you have in this industry. But I said yes because I like the characters and my kids love Star Wars.
ERSKINE And you get the reins.
GLOVER Yeah, and at this point, I just know when something’s going to be good, because you’re really fighting the industry when you [put your imprint on a franchise of that magnitude]. And it’s not like … I was going to say, and it’s not like I hate the industry, but now I’m like, “Do I hate the industry?” (Laughs.) I feel like I have enough control. And maybe you get painted as a control freak, but it’s like, yeah, control allows for the vision to be singular. And if the vision is singular, people want it more. The less it’s singular, the less people want it because they feel like they could’ve made it. Look, we live in a time where anybody can fucking make anything. You go on TikTok, there’s literally every type of thing. There’s documentaries, there’s puppetry, there’s yarn stop-motion. So why would you want to see something you feel like you could have made?
Read the interview in full here, and watch Mr. & Mrs. Smith on Amazon Prime now.
