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Tag: Will Smith

  • Will Smith, Michael B. Jordan team up for ‘I Am Legend’ sequel

    By ANI

    WASHINGTON: Hollywood actors Will Smith and Michael B. Jordan are joining hands for the ‘I Am Legend’ sequel.

    As per Variety, Smith and Jordan will star and produce the ‘I Am Legend’ follow-up feature, penned by Akiva Goldsman for Warner Bros.

    Jordan will produce alongside Elizabeth Raposo under Outlier Society, while Smith, Jon Mone, and Ryan Shimazaki will serve as producers for Westbrook Studios. The director for the upcoming project has not been disclosed yet.

    Smith confirmed the news with an Instagram post of a deserted street, reminiscent of the 2007 original film, tagging Jordan in the photo.

    Featuring Smith, the original ‘I Am Legend’ movie grossed more than USD 585 million worldwide, as per Deadline.

    Directed by Francis Lawrence, ‘I Am Legend’ starred Smith as virologist Robert Neville, the sole survivor in New York City of a man-made plague that transforms humans into bloodthirsty mutants, and follows him while he fights to find a cure.

    Currently, Smith is in the Oscar race for his performance in ‘King Richard’, recently winning a SAG Award. Meanwhile, Jordan is preparing to star and direct ‘Creed III’.

  • Will Smith bags his first SAG Award for Best Actor

    By ANI

    WASHINGTON: It’s a special day for Hollywood star Will Smith as he bagged his first SAG Award in the Best Male Actor category.

    As per Hollywood Reporter, Will Smith became emotional while receiving the award for his performance in ‘King Richard’.

    “That may have been one of my greatest moments of my career just now because my name was called for King Richard while sitting by Venus Williams,” he said.

    ALSO READ | SAG Awards 2022: ‘CODA’ star Troy Kotsur first deaf actor to win individual honour

    ‘King Richard’ is a biographical sports drama, which follows Richard Williams (played by Will Smith), coach and father to tennis superstars Venus and Serena, as he steers the young girls toward their professional debuts in the early ’90s.

    At the star-studded annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, Will Smith was accompanied by his wife Jada Pinkett Smith. 

  • Will Smith wins his first Golden Globe, takes accolade for ‘Best Actor’

    By ANI

    WASHINGTON:  American actor, rapper, and film producer Will Smith has just won a Golden Globe for his role of ‘Richard Williams’ in the 2021 movie ‘King Richard’.

    This is the first time that Will Smith has won a Golden Globe. The actor has been nominated for the accolade six times in his career.

    In the category of Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, Mahershala Ali (Swan Song), Javier Bardem (Being the Ricardos), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog), and Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth) were nominated alongside Smith.

    ‘King Richard’ is a 2021 American biographical drama film directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green. The film follows the life of Richard Williams, the father, and coach of famous tennis players Venus and Serena Williams.

    The movie stars Will Smith, Aunjanue Ellis, Saniyya Sidney, Demi Singleton, Tony Goldwyn, and Jon Bernthal. It was named one of the best films of 2021 by the American Film Institute and earned six nominations at the 27th Critics’ Choice Awards (including Best Picture).

    The nominations for the 79th Golden Globes were announced on December 13, 2021. Various media organizations including US broadcaster NBC, and streaming giants like Netflix, Amazon, and Warner Media are boycotting the ceremony over the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s (HFPA) lack of action to increase the membership diversity of the organization.

    The HFPA is holding the ceremony in private and the winners are being announced online. 

  • Will Smith reveals his guilt for failing to protect mother from abusive father

    By ANI

    WASHINGTON:  Hollywood star Will Smith recently revealed that he has suffered from guilt because he believes as a child he failed to protect his mother when his father beat her to the ground in the family’s Philadelphia home.

    According to Page Six, the ‘Men in Black’ actor recounted the domestic abuse in his new book ‘Will’ and called the traumatizing attack a defining moment, as per an excerpt of the book published in a news outlet.

    The excerpt read, “When I was nine years old, I watched my father punch my mother in the side of the head so hard that she collapsed. I saw her spit blood.”

    Smith’s father, Willard Carroll Smith Sr., and mother Caroline Bright eventually split when Smith was a teen and divorced in 2000, but the effects of that one night at their home have lingered on.

    “Within everything that I have done since then, the awards and accolades, the spotlights and the attention, the characters and the laughs, there has been a subtle string of apologies to my mother for my inaction that day. For failing her in that moment. For failing to stand up to my father. For being a coward,” Smith said.

    The actor reflected on his indecision to intervene in his deeply emotional analysis of the incident, “What you have come to understand as ‘Will Smith’, the alien-annihilating MC, the bigger-than-life movie star, is largely a construction, a carefully crafted and honed character designed to protect myself. To hide myself from the world. To hide the coward.”

    “How we decide to respond to our fears, that is the person we become,” he wrote.

    Smith’s father died in 2016. The actor has recently been transparent with his personal life and some of the struggles he’s endured.

  • Will Smith reveals his mother caught him having sex as teenager

    By IANS

    LOS ANGELES: Hollywood star Will Smith got candid about one of the embarrassing moments in his life.

    In his new memoir ‘Will’, the star shared that his mother once caught him getting intimate with his then-girlfriend in the kitchen when they were teenagers, reports aceshowbiz.com.

    In the book, the actor divulged that he was 16-years-old when the incident happened.

    At that time, he was dating Melanie Parker, whom he first met in high school and later fell “deeply and totally in love with”.

    One night, Will and Melanie were spending some quality time his mother came downstairs to make herself a cup of coffee.

    “(She) flipped the light switch as she had done tens of thousands of times before. But this time, her eyes landed upon her eldest son and his girlfriend deep in throes of reckless lovemaking,” he said.

    The actor went on to explain: “As a teenager, outside of physical injury, you cannot feel worse than having your mother catch you and your girlfriend doggy-style on her kitchen floor.” He further elaborated that his mom went back to her bedroom after seeing what had happened.

    He additionally noted that his ex had been living with him and his family after her mother went to jail. Before moving in, the former couple promised his parents that they would not have sex during her stay. Unfortunately, they broke the rule within three months.

    “I’m still not exactly sure why I did what I did that night,” Will pointed out.

    “To this day, I have no idea what I was thinking. Of all the experiences I am sharing in this book, this is the individual moment of personal behaviour that makes the least sense to me.”

    Despite the incident, Will and Melanie continued dating. They called it quits after the ‘Aladdin’ star found out that she cheated on him.

  • Will Smith opens up about having suicidal thoughts in past

    By ANI

    WASHINGTON:  Hollywood star Will Smith recently revealed that there’s a time when he wanted to end his life.

    In the newly-dropped trailer of his fitness docuseries ‘Best Shape of My Life’, Smith opened up about his battle against suicidal thoughts and he overcame the particular phase.

    “…Exposing my life and so many things that people don’t know about me….the only time in my life that I ever considered suicide,” Smith said in the trailer.

    It’s not clear when the actor had suicidal thoughts.

    The YouTube docuseries focuses on the Grammy award-winning actor’s fitness and health journey. The first two episodes of ‘Best Shape of My Life’ will debut November 8, one day before his memoir hits shelves, reported The Hollywood Reporter.

    The remaining four episodes will premiere daily on Will Smith’s official YouTube channel.

  • Will Smith names his worst choice of film roles

    By IANS

    LOS ANGELES: Hollywood star Will Smith has reviewed his film career and has named his worst choice of film roles.

    Smith participated in GQ as ‘Actually Me’ series, going undercover online to talk with social media commenters, reports deadline.com.

    On Quora, Smith was asked, “In your opinion, what is the worst and best movie of Will Smith?”

    The actor had a quick reply.

    “For the best, I think it’s a tie between the first ‘Men in Black’ and ‘Pursuit of Happyness’. For different reasons, those are the two almost-perfect movies.”

    When asked about the worst?

    “I don’t know, aWild Wild West’ is a thorn in my side. To see myself in chaps I don’t like it,” he added.

    Smith’s role in 1999’s ‘Wild Wild West’ caused him to turn down the role of Neo in ‘The Matrix’.

  • Will Smith-starrer Emancipation pauses production after positive COVID-19 tests  

    By Express News Service
    Will Smith’s upcoming runaway slave thriller film Emancipation, directed by Antoine Fuqua, has paused production following positive COVID-19 tests in the crew. The production of the film started two weeks ago in Louisiana, United States. According to Deadline, the shoot is expected to be paused for at least six days.

    Written by William N Collage, Emancipation will tell the story of Peter (Smith), who escaped the slavers and ran away to join the Union Army. A photo of his scorched back taken way back in 1863 is standing evidence of the horrors of slavery in the US. The film will be a thriller about the escape of Peter through the treacherous swamp of Louisana, outwitting hunters and their dogs. It is said that the film’s tone will be similar to Apocalypto (2006).

    Emancipation was originally slated to film in Georgia. However, Georgia’s controversial restrictive election law, signed by Republican Governor Brian Kemp, led to the project moving its production to Louisiana, where the actual events in the movie took place. The film will be produced by Smith and his Westbrook Studios partners James Lassiter and Jon Mone as well as Joey McFarland of McFarland Entertainment and Todd Black of Escape Artists. 

  • Will Smith’s runaway-slave thriller ‘Emancipation’ halts filming after positive COVID cases

    By PTI
    LOS ANGELES: Production on Will Smith-starrer runaway-slave thriller film “Emancipation” has been halted by Apple Studios after some of the members from the crew tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

    The movie, directed by Antoine Fuqua, was being filmed in Lousiana.

    According to Deadline, the shoot will be paused for at least six days.

    Writer William N Collage has penned the period film based on the true story of Peter, a slave on a Louisiana plantation.

    Peter managed to run away to the north to join the Union Army and on his arrival, Army doctors took photos of his whipping scars. One photograph, known as the scourged back, was published by The Independent in May 1863, and later by Harper Weekly in its July 4 issue.

    It got circulated around the world and was held up as proof of the cruelty of slavery in America.

    It prompted many free blacks to join the Union Army in order to fight racists in the south.

    The film will be produced by Smith and his Westbrook Studios partners James Lassiter and Jon Mone as well as Joey McFarland of McFarland Entertainment and Todd Black of Escape Artists.

    According to data maintained by Johns Hopkins University, the US recorded 23,139 cases on Sunday taking the total tally to 35 million.

  • WATCH | Will Smith portrays ‘relentless’ father to sisters Venus and Serena Williams in powerful trailer of ‘King Richard’

    By ANI
    WASHINGTON: In the newly released first trailer for ‘King Richard’, Hollywood star Will Smith is all set to make his big-screen return in the role of the ultra-ambitious and inspirational father to tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams.

    As per Warner Bros., ‘King Richard’ will follow the journey of Richard Williams, “an undeterred father” with a “relentless drive and unapologetic vision to change the game” who is “instrumental in raising two of the most extraordinarily gifted athletes of all time,” who will end up changing the sport of tennis forever.

    Driven by a clear vision of their future and using unconventional methods, Richard has a plan that will take Venus and Serena Williams from the streets of Compton, California, to the global stage as legendary icons.

    The trailer focuses on Richard’s parenting efforts as he drives his daughters toward their destiny of becoming barrier-shattering pro tennis champs. “I wrote a 78-page plan for their whole career before they were even born,” Richard intones in the trailer, along with tearfully telling Venus and Serena, “You’re going to be representing every little Black girl on Earth.”

    In the film, Smith portrays Richard, the father of two young tennis prodigies, played by Saniyya Sidney and Demi Singleton. The film also stars Aunjanue Ellis as Oracene ‘Brandi’ Williams, Tony Goldwyn as coach Paul Cohen and Jon Bernthal as coach Rick Macci. ‘King Richard’ has been directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green.

    ‘King Richard’ marks Smith’s first major release since the 2020 sequel ‘Bad Boys for Life’. As per The Hollywood Reporter, this new film will be released in theatres on November 19, and then 31 days following its theatrical release, it will be out on HBO Max.