ABC has greenlit production on “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” a small-screen take on the Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie feature, reports Variety. The project is eyed as a fall 2007 contender.
Doug Liman and Simon Kinberg are reprising their roles as director and writer, respectively. Liman, Kinberg and Dave Bartis will executive produce.
Liman and Kinberg are working on New Regency pic Jumper, and Kinberg delayed writing the TV script until just a few months ago, when he and Liman had a break in the production of that film. The plan is now to film the pilot in March, once Jumper wraps.
As in the movie, ABC’s “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” will revolve around two married assassins. The action will pick up about six months after the movie left off. “It’s essentially ‘Married … With Children’ with guns,” Kinberg said. “The show takes all the marital issues a couple has and blows them up to action-genre size.”
So rather than fight about who forgot to pack the toothpaste, “They’ll bicker over someone forgetting to pack the detonator,” he said.
Kinberg said the tone of the pilot is more comedic than the feature and possibly a bit darker as well.
