The actress is trying something different, playing the part of a spy in the new ‘Mr.
But as she tells MC, there are biggermore personalthings she hopes to accomplish.
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Maya Erskine and I maybe ruined an essential part of a kid’s childhood.
“You couldn’t tell me he didn’t leave those toys!”
I say, swiping my credit card to pay for a few chocolate caramel candy bars for my daughter.
“And that he didn’t take bites out of the cookies!”
the actress chimes in while playing with the wheel of a toy train she’s bought for her son.
“Our parents were on it,” she adds.
“I want to be like that.”
A woman leans in and whispers, “My son is listening to you.”
“What?!”
we both ask loudly, startled as she seemed to come out of nowhere.
The woman whispers louder, clearly annoyed, “My son is listening to you.”
She glances over her shoulder toward her child, who is staring at us from a nearby aisle.
Our eyes widen as we repeatedly apologize and rush out of the store and into the parking lot.
“It was probably time,” says Erskine mid-chuckle of shattering the kid’s Christmas illusions.
“He looked a little too old to still believe in Santa anyway.”
She never means any harm, though.
She’s too nice for that.
The trait makes the 36-year-old perfect for the role of Jane Smith in the Prime Video seriesMr.
& Mrs. Smith, premiering February 2.
Yes, it’s action-packed and sexy.
After tackling a few missions, they start to fall for each other.
& Mrs. SmithafterFleabag’sPhoebe Waller-Bridge, who had initially signed on for the role, left because of creative differences.
Erskine didn’t know she was being offered the lead.
“I thought I would play a character with three lines,” she says.
“I had no idea what I was in store for.”
But Glover knew Erskine was the right fit for Jane.
“She’s dynamic,” says Glover.
“She’s not afraid.
She’s one of the funniest people I know.
She’s reluctantly funny, which I think makes her even funnier.
She definitely made me step up my game.
I was like, ‘Oh fuck, I really have to act.”
“I felt pressure because of the pressure I put on myself,” she says.
“And I respect Phoebe Waller-Bridge immensely.
But I had to look at it as this is a different version.
Glover incentivized her to make the role her own and ensured he’d tailor the show to her.
“I’m like, ‘Pressure is good,'” Glover remembers telling Erskine.
“‘It makes diamonds.
But it’s not about that.
People are going to come with their idea of whatMr.
& Mrs. Smithis and what they want it to be.
I never felt like I had to fight or push for something.
They were so open, so generous with me having a voice.”
Says Glover, “Maya’s a real writer.
She would fix and flip things on the fly.
It’s not easy to find people who can do that.”
Erskine welcomed the encouragement, especially since hyping herself up isn’t one of her best skills.
“I grew up with a Japanese mother.
I apologize for myself a lot,” she says.
“I don’t take up space.
Embodying Jane is helping tap into that fierceness.
While in junior high, she knew that some popular girls were joining an after-school theater program.
Her time at NYU involved creating her own work and training to be an actor.
The two began writing the show in their 20s.
That was the impetus to make work for myself.”
That’s a very specific kind of family that I didn’t ever see on TV growing up.
I felt like we did that well.
That’s something I’m proud of.”
Christian Dior dress; Khaite shoes
With her role inMr.
& Mrs. Smith, Erskine is pushing the boundaries of what shes capable of once again.
“She’s so much more than just a comedy actor,” says Sloane.
She does these micro-movements that can make your heart break.
The range that she shows as this character is incredible."
“Having a multitude of references was helpful,” she says, adding she also rewatched 2005’sMr.
“What was good for me to see is that I will never be able to be that.
I’m not Angelina.
I’m not even close.
They’re superhuman beauties and movie stars, and Donald and I are just Donald and I.”
That’s no shade, she clarifies.
“To see yourself reflected, that’s always a draw for me.”
Equally intriguing for Erskine were the intricacies of Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s relationship.
It’s examining the nuances and real momentsthe trajectory of a relationship.
It’s what we all relate to in a relationship."
Erskine adds that the show also asks, Whyshouldwe get married?
The two got married last summer and share a 2-year-old son.
& Mrs. Smith, Erskine says her husband was her rock.
“I’m going to do that for him.”
“We’re each other’s biggest fans,” she says.
“We support each other’s dreams.”
She brings up names like Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie, and Natalie Portman.
To Erskine, these women have put themselves in positions to call the shots and work on passion projects.
It’s the kind of power she wants.
But it’s about more than that.
“I was so burnt out,” she says of creating the comedy.
“It was several years back-to-back of writing, filming, then we’d be in post.”
She adds of working onMr.
& Mrs. Smith, “It was nice to not have all of the pressure on me.”
Versace dress, ring, and earrings
But motherhood has led her to prioritize balance in her life.
“Once you’re making something, it’s like go, go, go.
Burn into the ground and then break.
My goal for everyone in film is to find a way where we can work in a sustainable fashion.
It makes you pickier.
I don’t know how that’s possible, but I want both.”
Its part of what makes the timing of theMr.
& Mrs. Smithrole so important, says Erskine.
It’s exciting to see how your career turns into something you might not have imagined.
It’s better."
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