Interview: Showrunner Francesca Sloane on Creating a Brand New John and Jane for ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith’

“Being a showrunner is one of the craziest jobs in the entire world,” Mr. And Mrs. Smith co-creator Francesca Sloane says. It was her first time in the role, following her stints writing and producing Emmy Award-winning shows like Atlanta and Fargo. Tackling a television reboot of the 2005 Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie action film Mr. And Mrs. Smith wasn’t the most obvious next move, but Sloane was fascinated by the possibilities. “I think the thing that drew Donald [Glover] and me to the project, to begin with, was the fact that we’re going to do a fresh take,” she explains. “We knew that we wanted it to be very much a story about marriage, and so that was sort of the starting point. We wanted it to feel real.”

While the film was much more action-oriented, the series aims to chronicle the life-cycle of a relationship while adding in missions along the way. It’s a risky approach, especially when fans of the original may expect a greater focus on action. Rather than worrying about how those fans might respond to the series, Sloane and Glover relished the challenge of those expectations. “I’ll be completely honest. We were not worried. But we were enticed by that.” This fearless push toward something new guided Sloane’s approach to the series. “For us, it was really about taking a big swing.”

Sloane chatted with me about building this series, working with “some of the best artists that are out there,” and what might be next for John and Jane. [Note: This interview was conduced prior to the series’ second season renewal]

Daniel Howat: Francesca, I’m such a big fan of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Thanks for taking the time to chat with me about it, because I’m excited to hear more.

Francesca Sloane: Thank you for taking the time to talk to me about it!

DH: The show has a totally different premise than the movie, making it feel much fresher than a straight-up remake. How were you and Donald [Glover] able to land on a premise that felt related to the movie but just right for a series?

FS: Well, we knew that we wanted it to be very much a story about marriage, and so that was sort of the starting point. We thought, okay, we make the show about marriage, and we make the missions basically compliment the relationship in terms of what they’re going through. That felt really real to us. Initially, we had even talked about making it more similar to the film in the sense that they were at the seven-year-itch part of their relationship where things are starting to get a little rusty, or some cobwebs are starting to form in terms of chemistry.

But we realized, especially once we cast Maya (Erskine) as Jane, that we also wanted it to be a story about loneliness and finding a person to sort of cut through that loneliness. So the best version of that to us was them being strangers, coming together in this arrangement, and then getting to see them fall for each other. It also allows for the company’s mysteriousness to be showcased in an easier fashion if the two of them are put together in the first place. And we wanted it to feel real. We wanted them to both be aware of the situation versus suddenly finding out. We just felt like it allowed the show to be a little more grounded.

DH: Tell me about the actual writing process and developing the arc of this season. Because it charts these milestones in a relationship, is that where you started?

FS: Yeah, it was that. We had a really incredible writers’ room. Everyone was very generous and sort of sharing their treasure troves of embarrassing moments in their own relationships – foibles, successes, and love. And from those conversations, we started realizing that as much as love can be so unique to each individual, there are these circumstances that so many of us universally experience.

And so we thought to ourselves, what are the tropes of a relationship? How do you then marry that to a mission? You know, you have your first date. There’s a second date. There’s meeting the parents. There’s talking about if you want kids. Eventually, when things get rough, you go to couples therapy. And we sort of just thought about it in those terms and then decided to lean into that version of chapters.

DH: I don’t know if you’ve jumped into the writers’ room for season two yet, but how did that play into thinking about future seasons? You know, not wanting to jump the gun of the relationship per se. How did that play out?

FS: We definitely wanted season one to sort of feel like its own eight movies and feel satisfying in terms of that story, but in terms of John and Jane’s characters, for them to sign up for something like that in the first place, they have to have a variety of things that they need in life. For instance, they obviously want to do something exciting. They’re obviously lonely to be in an arrangement in this fashion, in terms of romance. And there’s a void there, too, which I think is really interesting. But also, they are low-key adrenaline junkies. So if you put two lonely people in a relationship who are adrenaline junkies, it’s going to manifest as a flash in the pan, full-fledged romance, especially if you add the high stakes of potential death looming in the wings every single day of their lives now that they’ve signed up for being essentially assassins.

So it felt right to us to have that pace. They first meet. They kind of try to create these boundaries with each other, and they’re going to keep things professional. That’s tossed out very quickly, and then we get to see these two fall for each other very intensely, becoming serious very fast because that’s sort of what the stakes have forced them into.

DH: And we don’t know that much about John and Jane either, which I suppose is true for any relationship. How did that manifest itself as you’re trying to develop characters without the benefit of too much backstory? We get some, but not a lot. How were you able to craft these phenomenal characters without revealing too terribly much about their backstories?

FS: Outside of nailing and figuring out the tone of this crazy thing, I think the most challenging thing was creating characters where you’re giving so little to the audience and still feeling connected to them or wanting to be engaged with them. How much is too much? How much is too little?

But we did know who they were. We knew that, eventually, it would get to a place where some of these layers would have to go away. And so we actually talked about who they were quite a bit. You know, John is this person who has this military father who he’s looked up to his entire life, and always felt like he wanted to be that guy. But in reality, he’s sort of a golden retriever. He’s a little bit clumsy. He’s actually quite sensitive. He’s very different from his father. He’s actually a lot more like his mother. Whereas Jane is somebody who we knew had this strange relationship with her father, and is very anxious. And her anxiety, therefore, makes her quite cagey and almost catlike, which is why the closest relationship to her is this cat.

So we knew who they were. And then it was really just a matter of how soon do they reveal that to one another? And how does their connection to each other and this bond of sense of humor bring them together? What are the things up on the outside of that? Well, I discussed earlier their loneliness, but in addition to that, I think they’re both underdogs. I think they’re both people of color who have navigated the world in the ways they can in many circles that would otherwise be deemed more of a white world. And they figured out how to sort of get through that in a way that benefited them. And I think they bond over that. So, we just tried to look at connection points between them.

DH: You also mentioned how difficult the tone of this series is to nail. I can’t imagine what a wrestle that would be. You have to balance the truth of this romance, while factoring in action. Comedy. Drama. How did you thread the needle for what this series was going to feel like?

FS: You know, you start off, and you write these scripts, and you put a lot of heart into them, but at the end of the day, while you’re going through production, you have these fantastic artists, and these amazing actors. The show starts to sort of tell you what it wants to be. So, for instance, while we were shooting, we would realize, okay, actually, we do need a little bit more action here. Let’s bring in a little bit of popcorn here so that we can then have these quiet or dramatic conversations or off-the-cuff feelings where it feels almost like improv, even if it is scripted. Or we’re sort of dealing with a moment where these two are at each other’s throats, and it’s kind of brutal.And as wonderful as a film like Blue Valentine or Scenes From A Marriage may be, we do need some levity here. So how do you bring in humor here? We even had a version at one point toward the end of the season, where it just sort of stayed in this bleak territory. So that’s how we constructed “Couples Therapy,” because then you get to bring in the humor of these two, having to speak in a coded language across from Sarah Paulson, where they’re not allowed to outwardly say what they do for a living because they kill people and they’re spies. Instead, they have to stick to this white lie they’ve used as a cover, that they’re software engineers, while navigating turbulent marriage discussions. And that’s how you bring the humor in. But a lot of it was a living, breathing, and evolving experience, and it was telling us what it needed.

DH: In dealing with an established property, how did you think about people’s expectations as you were developing it, especially as you came to the conclusion to sort of change the premise?

FS: I’ll be completely honest. We were not worried. But we were enticed by that. I think the thing that drew Donald and me to the project, to begin with, was the fact that we’re going to do a fresh take. And we were very well aware that not everybody was going to be excited about that. For us, it was really about taking a big swing. I do feel like we have a lot of these reboots all over television, all over films. These callbacks to other things that have already existed. So, we wanted to do something that felt original within those constrictions.

For us, you know, I’ve talked about this before, but when people started commenting when the show was first announced, like, “Who needs this show?” We kind of chuckled and understood why people felt that way. Because I think if we had made the exact movie into a series, especially just to reinforce the real estate for eight hours worth of television, that would eventually be, “Why does anyone need this?” So we wanted to make it about vulnerability. We wanted it to make it about people. We wanted it to occasionally be a weird laugh. We were excited.

DH: And we haven’t mentioned so far that this is your first show as a showrunner. You have been a writer and producer on incredible projects before, but as your first series as a showrunner, what was the thing that you were really excited to have your hands in for the first time? Maybe an aspect of the show you hadn’t really worked on in previous projects?

FS: Being a showrunner is one of the craziest jobs in the entire world. And because you’re wearing so many different kinds of hats, until you actively are doing it, I don’t think anyone can understand the magnitude of how bizarre of a job it is. On one hand, you’re literally picking the color and bristle texture of the toothbrush that your characters are holding.

And then, on the other hand, you know, you’re having calls with studios about budget, and you’re rewriting scenes, and you’re looking at casting calls from the big people who you’re going to hire. You get to think about Parker Posey, who you’ve idolized your whole life, playing someone, while at the same time, you’re looking at who plays waiter number three, and you’re doing it all at the same time.

I think initially, something like that seemed like such an intense mountain to climb. But in reality, you’re getting to work with so many brilliant individuals. You’re getting to collaborate with some of the best artists that are out there and collectively bringing together the story. And you know, I am personally not some kind of auteur version of a showrunner. I really am somebody who understands, at least for this series, how much it’s about being around people you trust and getting excited to argue with people that you trust. And I think the most exciting thing to me was collaborating with a bunch of my friends, bringing this collective vision to the surface, and seeing what that feels like once you’re done with it.

Like not actually fully knowing, but having a really big inkling of what the show would be, and putting your heart and soul into trying to get to that thing, but then really letting it show you, like I said earlier, what it was supposed to be all along. So I kind of rambled there. I don’t know if I fully answered the question, but I think I was just excited by the challenge of being a showrunner.

DH: We’ve talked about the tone and the writing, but what about assembling this incredible crew? I mean, obviously, Hiro [Murai] is incredible. And worked on all of Donald’s previous series. Tell me about assembling the rest of this crew that made the series.

FS: Well, starting it off with Hiro, who is now one of my greatest friends. He made the whole journey pretty exciting because you get to begin this experience with somebody who’s a true visionary, who also is so strange in terms of understanding that things need to live in this bizarre realm and that you are really sticking to a feeling more than anything else and evoking that.

From there, it continued to go up. Karena Evans brought romance to the set in terms of John and Jane. Amy Seimetz brought bizarre character quirks. Christian Sprenger brought forward true visionary moments, understanding that it should also feel cinematic, as a DP and director. And then, not to mention, our A.D. and our Line Producer are these two best friends who have gone way back since they were teenagers touring around with rappers and then becoming these cinematic geniuses who have worked on everything you can imagine. And they’re true blue New Yorkers, getting these guys to put us in locations in Chinatown. And instead of getting frustrated or telling us no, explaining that when extras are coming through, like hot dog vendors that aren’t supposed to be there, that it’s just free texture, it really couldn’t have been more of a dream come true.

DH: As you were stepping into this role for the first time, did you wrestle with self-doubt at all or did you feel like this was your time? Or did you always know you were going to kill it as a showrunner?

FS: Oh, I still don’t know. I feel I’m riddled with self-doubt to this day. Even talking to you. I don’t think that will ever go away. But I do know I also care so much. Every little thing keeps me up at night to think about, but it’s just because I love the stuff that I work on, and I love the people I work with. And, I hope in a lot of ways that that anxiety never goes away because it’s also the thing that feeds the beast in the first place.

DH: Well, from my perspective, you did kill it. I can’t wait to see more. What’s the status of season two? Are you guys working on it?

FS: What I can say at this point is that we have a lot of story to tell, and we’re very optimistic with the hopes that we’ll be able to tell it.

DH: That’s cool. So maybe you won’t give me an answer to this. That’s okay. I’m going to ask anyway. Did you chart out a set number of seasons? Or are you kind of taking it season by season?

FS: We definitely wanted season one to feel like a complete story, but that’s not to say that Donald and I don’t have a lot of ideas for other seasons. And we would want it to blow season one out of the water, because why else do it?

DH: Well, I can’t wait to see it. And elsewhere, I’ve heard you say movies will always be your first love. So, am I taking that to mean directing a feature is in your future? Or what does that mean for you that you’re passionate about jumping into movies.

FS: Well, I think the medium in terms of storytelling, and having to deliver a full world within an hour and a half, to me, is just so gorgeous. So many of the things that have moved me and changed me in terms of who I am as a person were from watching films. Even cutting classes in high school and going to independent movie theaters, watching foreign films, sitting in that dark theater and watching them.

So it’s just so romantic to me now. As far as directing myself, I think one day. People keep asking me that. It’s a really flattering question, but I think I have a lot of learning to do. Still, I’m always a student. I love observing because, as I mentioned, I care so much. I just want to make sure that I would do it right. So, maybe one day I would like to. Yes.

DH: Well, whatever’s next for you, I can’t wait to see it. Francesca, thank you so much for your time.