Posted in: Movies, Universal | Tagged: film, mr. & mrs. smith, simon kinberg, the 355

The 355 Filmmaker Draws One Similarity to Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Published Tue, 25 Jan 2022 10:48:10 -0600

The 355 has some significant star power amongst its cast, along with filmmaker (and co-writer) Simon Kinberg at its core, who had helmed major titles including X-Men: The Last Stand, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and many more. Though the new film is entirely original and removed from any previous inspirations or concepts, Kinberg recently spoke to Discussing Film to promote the new release. When asked about "returning to his roots" for The 355, the director admits that there was a similar component at play.

The Awesome Cast of The 355 Kick Ass in This New Trailer — Byline: Photo credit: Robert Viglasky/Universal Pictures. Caption: Jessica Chastain as Mason "Mace" Brown in The 355, co-written and directed by Simon Kinberg. Copyright: © 2021 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

When asked about his Mr. & Mrs. Smith introduction to Hollywood, Kinberg initially notes, "That was my breakout film. That was the first film I ever wrote that got made; I wrote it when I was in film school. It was 20 years ago now that I wrote that movie. Maybe more than 20 years ago, shockingly. That obviously is a very different movie because, in many ways, it's like a rom-com dressed up as a spy movie. There were moments where I thought of that, but the tones are so different and, obviously, the setup and the stories are so different."

The writer and director continued by adding, "I think what excited me was, between Mr. & Mrs. Smith and The 355, I've worked on a lot of material based on other intellectual property – superhero movies, Sherlock Holmes, Cinderella, The Martian. Mr. & Mrs. Smith was a pure original, and The 355 was a pure original. I think that also made me feel like I was going back to my roots of making something that started as an idea in someone's mind and became a movie."

The 355 is out now, with a Peacock streaming release coming soon. The film's official synopsis reads, "When a top-secret weapon falls into mercenary hands, a wild card CIA agent joins forces with three international agents on a lethal mission to retrieve it while staying a step ahead of a mysterious woman who's tracking their every move."

The 355 stars Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Fan Bingbing, Diane Kruger, and Lupita Nyong'o.

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