Synopsis

John and Jane Smith appear to be an ordinary married couple living a polished suburban life, but each is secretly a highly trained assassin working for a rival organization. When they are assigned to eliminate one another, their carefully maintained marriage erupts into a spectacular battle of bullets, explosives, and long-suppressed emotions. Forced to confront both their secrets and their feelings, the Smiths discover that survival may depend on working together.

Factoids & Trivia

• The screenplay began as Simon Kinberg's graduate thesis at Columbia University Film School before being developed into a major studio action comedy.

• Nicole Kidman was initially attached to play Jane Smith, but left the project after scheduling problems with The Stepford Wives. Angelina Jolie subsequently joined the production.

• The production was affected by significant scheduling complications. Filming ran longer than planned, and Brad Pitt had to leave for several months to work on Ocean's Twelve.

• The movie reportedly went substantially over its original budget, prompting studio executives and producers to take an unusually hands-on role in bringing the production to completion.

• Pitt and Jolie had not met before filming began, despite playing a married couple whose relationship is central to nearly every scene.

• The film's real-life publicity became inseparable from its fictional premise after widespread reports that Pitt and Jolie had begun a relationship during production. This became one of the most heavily discussed examples of behind-the-scenes celebrity publicity influencing the reception of a movie.

• A sequence involving chickens and goats was filmed under American Humane supervision. Rain was added digitally so the chickens would not actually get wet, while the goat footage was ultimately cut from the theatrical version.

• The film was released in the United States on June 10, 2005, and became a major commercial success despite mixed critical reviews.