Will Smith has a new interview from BBC Radio 1Xtra with a DJ named A.Dot. A.Dot is 28 years old, but I thought she was much younger because she has a very young, androgynous look. She definitely knows how to conduct an interview and she really got Will to open up. A.Dot asked Will about his boycott of the Oscars, about which films he’s doing sequels to and she even suggested he play Bond! To his credit, Smith demurred and said that the role should go to Idris Elba.
The quotes that are getting the most press are about Will sort-of regretting the amount of freedom he’s given his kids. Will joked that he may have been too lax in parenting. This is a big departure from his previous stance, which he discussed ad nauseam during After Earth promotion, that his kids should be their own people and do whatever they wanted. It’s thought that Will was heavily influenced by Scientology teachings that kids are adults in little bodies, but he’s apparently stepped away from that a bit now. Here’s some of what he said and you can watch the video below.
On suggestions that he should be the first black Bond
No, Idris has to do that one first. Idris is going to be the first black Bond.On his non-involvement in ID2
I had a couple of films lined up, I had Concussion and Suicide Squad. It was a decision timing-wise between Independence Day and Suicide Squad. They were sending me pictures from the [ID] set and I was like “awwww.”On Wild Wild West 2 and Bad Boys III
There probably will not be a Wild Wild West 2. I saw Martin [Lawrence] a few weeks ago… we just looked at each other… in that moment we both knew we were making another Bad Boys.Q: Your kids both seem to have a lot of freedom of expression. Is that something you consciously encouraged them to have?
Yeah I think it may have been a mistake. We may have gone too far.Q: How do you respond then, for example, if you encourage them to have freedom of expression and then people will start making jokes about say Jaden modeling women’s clothes. How do you – as a dad – handle that?
There’s a really powerful internal quality as an artist that as parents we encourage. You gotta get out on the edge, you have to try things, you have to be comfortable doing things that people don’t agree with, and you have to be comfortable doing things that you could fail.And Jaden is 100% fearless, he will do anything. So as a parent it’s scary, it’s really terrifying – but he is completely willing to live and die by his own artistic decisions and he just doesn’t concern himself with what people think.
Q: So how do you balance that freedom with controlling your kids as well. Are you a strict parent? Does Willow have a curfew?
You’re hitting on a really difficult issue at my house. I have two sons, my oldest is 23. Jaden is 17 and Willow is 15. The boys – when they go out they have 6 or 7 dudes so they have a small army when they go out, so their freedom is slightly different from Willow’s. Willow’s a 15-year-old girl, so we try to have the same rules but it’s a different world, so we’ve been struggling with that. The answer is yes, Willow has a curfew. Fridays and Saturdays we give her till 11, 11:30… she keeps calling and adding 15 minutes.Q: What would it take for you guys to go to the Oscars now?
It’s not about me, it’s not about us going to a show or not. For me this is a much bigger social issue. I’m recognizing a pattern of the narrowing of the imagery. The narrowing of tolerance in America. The last 18 months I’ve been watching the news and experiencing the things that have been going on in my country. My concern is that Hollywood is reflecting a regressive trend. Hollywood is supposed to lead. Hollywood is supposed to be the most diverse and the most inclusive… and I think that it’s an absolute necessity that Hollywood lead and I’m just concerned that I’m seeing Hollywood slipping and Hollywood making a slide that is a social and political slide that’s happening throughout the country.
[From Will Smith’s radio interview with BBC Radio 1Xtra ]
I would take Will to task for putting more restrictions on Willow but I think he just explained that poorly by framing it as a gender issue. She’s 15 and her brother is 17 so she needs an earlier curfew. Plus at least Will and Jada have some accountability from their kids. I get the impression that Will was deep into Scientology, then After Earth bombed, his Scientology-based school folded and he reevaluated.
Read Will’s thoughts about diversity in Hollywood, that’s the last quote in the text, and if you’re able, fast forward to 5:30 in the video below to hear him say it. He has a very thoughtful, well explained take on diversity in film that I haven’t heard or considered before. There’s a backlash to the Black Lives Matter movement, we’ve been seeing it in the amount of overt racism in the press and we’ve been seeing it reflected in Hollywood.
Photo credit: WENN.com
We like Dotty in our house and she has worked with loads of cool people, aside from the radio show. So yay for a mention.
BTW: I was waiting to watch the Hobbit from Lost looking for a serial killer in Sweden show last night and ending up watching an episode of the US cop show that was on before it. Blue Bloods. Never seen it before. But if that’s what Smith means about narrowings of perspective, then I get it. I was shocked at the stereotypes and messaging.
She’s cute and seems like she does a fun but thorough interview.
Bright girl, too. She’s got a line that Sixlet Major (a geek himself) loves: “Listen, I’m a boffin so I spit lines that you’re lost with”. I love that!
Boffins can be fun!
I think he did his kids a huge disservice by not giving them a proper education. They sound like fools when they speak.
+1
And so full of themselves. Their only option is to work in Hollywood, they are not able to do anything else, which is sad.
Their only option is to live off their parent’s money
Completely agree.
It’s fully possible to allow kids to explore their artistic freedom AND make sure they get the best education possible. In fact, knowledge and broader experiences make you a better artist. If all you know is your own insulated bubble and only have to think about things you like, there’s nothing to challenge or inspire you.
The funny thing is Will Smith had a structured upbringing which valued education.
Smith referenced his mother’s approach often in early interviews and I believe he even won a scholarship to M.I.T.
I genuinely think Jada is the ‘free spirit’ advocate between the two of them.
I still like him anyway.
I know. I don’t get why he thought his kids needed to have so much more “atristic” freedom than he had. He was successful himself very young. He was rapping his own way and making his own music very young. I don’t understand why the need to give his kids free-reign as if he felt he had been held back or held back himself out of fear of rejection or something. But then I remember, oh yeah, CoS and therein lies the answer.
I’d also like to point out that Will Smith was invited and wanted to do the Indpendence Day sequel, HOWEVER, he insisted a role be written for his son, Jaden and the producers/directors weren’t having it. He gave them an ultimatum – my son is in it or I don’t do it. They called his bluff and changed the film’s direction – rewrote it without Will’s original character. Next thing I read from Smith is that he was hurt because he wasn’t invited or wanted in the sequel. No true, but way to attempt to garner sympahty, hide your power play and try to make them look bad. Now he’s spinning it as a time issue due to other projects. Not true. He was an a$$hat and it shot him in the foot.
Note: Will never actually received a scholarship to MIT. That’s an urban legend, partially started by Will (he was vague when initially discussing the matter). He said he could have gotten a scholarship if he wanted one (or something like that). He never even applied to the school. I used to believe it too.
– Source: http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/famous_people_who_didnt_go_to
Also, here: “While it is widely reported that Smith turned down a scholarship to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he never applied to MIT,[9] although he was admitted to a “pre-engineering program” there.[8] According to Smith, “My mother, who worked for the School Board of Philadelphia, had a friend who was the admissions officer at MIT. I had pretty high SAT scores and they needed black kids, so I probably could have gotten in. But I had no intention of going to college.”[10]”
-Source: http://www.moviefone.com/2014/02/14/will-smith-facts/
Thanks for that.
And his Philly HS Principal said Will hid his scholastic intelligence and ambition, with pranks and clown-me humor cause he was desperate to be popular, rather then be a geek.
Will seems like such a lovely guy and I’m glad it sounds like he is not under the influenced of that cult anymore. If Will Smith could bottle his charisma and likability he would be a billionaire.
Will should do some anti- hero roles, I would love to see him play the bad guy.
Will is great until you learn why exactly he couldn’t do ID2……
He has a great public persona, but he is as egotistic as all of Hollywood and it cost him that role.
Weren’t there rumours that the reason he didn’t do ID2 is because he wanted too much money and wanted Jaden to play his son in the movie?
Its hardly the role of a life time. Hell if I’m going to be in a film that I’m not particularly interested but is projected to make a ton of money, I would ask for a lot of incentivising and some artist control too. Its Show Business not Show Charity.
Its hardly the role of a life time. Hell if I’m going to be in a film that I’m not particularly interested but is projected to make a ton of money, I would ask for a lot of incentivising and some artist control too. Its Show Business not Show Charity. If they dont like it, they can as with any business proceed without me, no harm no foul.
I personally wouldn’t call it egotistic to try to make the deal I want in a franchise I made successful and being an actor with a worldwide b.o. gross of $7 BIL. Toms Cruise and Hanks have been making movies 15 years longer than he has and their b.o. is around $8.5 BIL each, so he’s their equal. They make their movies and cast them too. (My husband was cast by both Hanks and Ron Howard for Angels and Demons.) If I were in Will’s shoes and thought it would be a great idea to write my son in and create even more box office, I would try to broker that deal being one of the highest grossing box office stars left in the business that is a mess right now. That is how it works. He is in that position. It’s the producers being short sided and narrow as always these days. They’re the Schmucks, not Will. P.S. why the double standard for the black actor?
@robynsing – have you actually watched his son act? He is not even good. Yes Hanks got someone cast but I bet that person could actually do the job. Sorry this is an issue of nepotism – not racism.
Neither Hanks nor Cruise have cast their own children – even though Colin Hanks is definitely an actor. The reason why the ID2 folks wouldn’t cast Jaden Smith isn’t race, it’s because Last Earth was such a spectacular failure, that it was pretty clear viewing audiences were rejecting him as an actor and star.
@rosie
I like him too.
When Wild Wild West premiered in London Will and Jada stayed at a 5 star hotel for the week long promotion, and they were super kind to the staff and cleaned up after themselves with zero sense of entitlement..
A now defunct Sunday tabloid did an expose on behind the scenes celeb stories and everyone from hotel maids to Nobu DJ’s had nothing but warmest, kindest words for the dude.
Though one would be surprised at the celebs they ragged on ))))
Holy cow that interviewer (dot is it?) is annoying.
Will handled that well.
I thought she was fun and cool. Liked that she wasn’t like most.
I like Will. And I can get behind teaching your kids to be unafraid of failing. But I agree with Tania, above, about the education piece of this puzzle, and that’s where I part company with the Smiths. There simply is no excuse for parents with their resources closing this door or allowing their children to close that door themselves. It will hurt them their entire lives.
I agree that there is a backlash against change for POC and women in our country, and that it should be challenged head on. I do not agree that Hollywood has ever been a leader in progressive thought – casting couches, stereotypes, you name it – Hollywood behind the scenes and many times on screen has represented the worst of what we are, not the best. But I’m all for that changing and support anyone trying to change it.
I have to agree here.
It’s one thing to be cocky or arrogant when you have the intelligence and skill to back it up – still would be best to be humble of course. But his kids seem so arrogant AND so ignorant of the world. If they had a decent education they’d be so much more tolerable – and perhaps they’d put more thought and perspective into what they had to say.
I understand how you can get into the pitfall of wanting your kids to be able to have all the chances in the world and pick and choose whatever they want to do – but without some kind of structure or foundation they’re not going to make educated choices. They’re not going to feel the need to do anything substantial. It’d be great if giving them this freedom had created responsible, mature, intelligent adults. But it didn’t – and that’s on their parents. They’re still young, so hopefully they’ll find something that interests them, and causes them to rethink their choices and feelings on the world. It’d be wonderful if they could make the correction on their own terms, but I feel like they’re just setup to fail at this point. Hopefully the older son is at least a little more put together.
I agree there is a HUGE backlash against POC and women. I don’t know if it’s always been there(probably) and social media is just highlighting it. But I am shocked at how racist people are. I don’t even bother reading the comment section on stories other than this site because 90% of them are just revolting. People might dismiss it a few trolls on the internet but I really believe it actually reflects how society feel as a whole right now. It’s just heartbreaking.
I also had no idea how much people hated feminism. I just thought everyone understood that feminism, to put it simply, is women wanting to be treated equally as men. I didn’t know this was controversial. There is a definite war on women and girls. Women have been shoved to the back of the bus forever and for all the talk about progressiveness I feel that hasn’t change much. The world is still very much a boys club.
Aarika I totally agree. I am disgusted at the things I read on my newsfeed that my “friends” share. Everything is mired in a subtle undertone of racism. So maybe they might not come out and actually ‘say’ their stances, but they more than make their point by sharing the memes. If I unfriended every friend I have who shared something racist, I would have like 5 friends left.
And the bad thing is I feel like going up to every Muslim, every black, every immigrant I see and say “I’m with you. I support you. You are not alone”. All because I see this trend of hate that is getting louder and louder. And to think; I’ve brought 3 children into this world. I am so thankful that I had a mother who NEVER and I mean NEVER showed an ounce of anything but compassion towards her fellow human. I can only hope to raise my boys in the same vein. Thankfully I met a husband who has the same thoughts as I.
@Girlinbayou…Yep you can feel the racist undertone even when they don’t come out and say it. I made the mistake of reading some of the comments about that Cam Newton situation. I was like Wow.
I have 2 girls and I will teach them to treat people like Dr. Martin Luther King dreamed of. And that’s how I conduct myself as well. Kudos to you and your husband for being and raising decent human beings.
I live in the south and maintaining the way I raise children is getting harder and harder because of outside forces. They are at school now, they are actually listening to people have conversations around them. I try to surround myself with tolerant, open minded people, not only for my own morality and character, but for their’s, yet I still have to constantly monitor things. I’ve had to literally have conversations with my children after the fact. Like for instance someone said something about gay marriage and my child told me god doesn’t like two men getting married. My response? It makes God so happy to see two people showing love towards one another. I don’t think anything related to kindness and love could ever make God angry”. AND believe it or not, this whole conversation went down at Chick-fil-a. It’s like I’m just struggling and struggling against this thick stagnant cloud of hate that is slowly suffocating us. *sigh* God help us all.
Wow, it does seem like he’s backing off some of those Scientology principles. Good! And he spoke very well on diversity in Hollywood, worth a listen.
I’m not buying scheduling as the reason why he’s not in the sequel- he was and remains the biggest star of it. I find it hard to believe they wouldn’t delayed a few months to get him in it.
He was an idjit about money and a starring role for Jaden, so they showed him the door.
Thank God. At least we haven’t been saddled with Jaden and his artistic choices.
Thank goodness! I”m picturing Jaden running around in a white batman costume tryinig to save his dad from alians. No thanks.
His comments in the diversity issue are really good. And he is right – there is this knee jerk reaction going on right now. I’m hoping it’s a last gasp kind of thing.
I kind of get what he saying about artist kids. This is a little different but my oldest (9) loves to paint his nails. He saw me do it when he was little and was so fascinated .. so one day we (my husband and i) let him pick a color and paint them. Every once in a while he likes to do that. We’ve gotten calls from his teacher, from his coaches, from my parents all about how wrong this is.. but.. I mean, why is it so wrong? Because we’ve been taught that men can’t do that? If he likes it, I love it. But it makes everyone uncomfortable.
it’s awful you have to put up with that kind of reaction from people IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH- seriously he’s a child having fun- what’s wrong with that? why do people feel a sense of entitlement to judge others? (i get that I’m writing this on a celebrity site, and arguments over celebrity privacy etc aside, but this is totally different IMO)
The only time I interfere with other people’s parenting is when I’m confronted with ill-mannered children.
Some parents think it’s cute or are immune to the ill manners of their kids, and that makes me ragey and I tell them off (the parents, not the kids).
Aside from that, anything goes.
People are so annoying. My nephew was talking to me about fabrics when he was nine. I had some fabric samples and we were sitting on the sofa looking at them, and he was showing me which ones he thought looked good with which, and his mother walked in, frowned and walked out. A minute later, she came back with a football, took the fabrics out of his hand, and handed him to football and said “play with this.” He looked confused and hurt. I wanted to punch her. After she left, I told him that all of his life, people were going to try to tell him what to like and who to be, but he should remain true to himself. I shouldn’t have said that, I know, because she was his mother, but I did anyway.
I think you were right to say it.
Yeah my brother in law had a serious problem with the nail polish, but ultimately its not his decision. Tried to get him to take it off and all that. People are so… gross.. like.. he’s 9, how is nail polish going to hurt him?
I think you were right to say it too. He needed to hear that then, and to know he has an awesome aunt who is going to support who he is at all times, even if his own mother can’t.
Good for you GNAT. He needed to hear that. Hope it makes a difference in the long run and the world doesn’t wear him down.
It’s crazy. My son asked for nail polish at 4. He likes bright colors and thought it wasn’t fair that girls got do fun stuff with their finger nails. So he picked out purple and green, and I did a dinosaur dot pattern. He was the hit of the preschool – the teachers and kids all thought it was great. All was well, until my son overheard a kid point out the nails to his mom. And then heard the mom tell her kid not to play with my son. It starts so early and it doesn’t come from the kids….
good god just reading some of your comments above- its funny (and i mean horrifically sad) that the reactions of close minded people is the only questionable thing here, not what the kids are doing. and totally agree LAK- kids running wild in a pub/shop/restaurant is my number one hate which only finds satisfaction once said kiddies inevitably fall over/hurt themselves, finally gaining the attention of the wishy washy parents. (yes i’m mean)
That makes me so sad Malificent. 🙁
wth is wrong with people? For what it’s worth, pretty sure my son would have been obsessed with your sons dinosaur nails and asked for his own haha
Wow. Children love color and can totally understand why a little boy would want painted nails. Imagine being so ignorant and narrow minded that you would tell your child not to play with your sweet son. That makes me so angry.
Good for you for letting your son express himself! Those people need to mind their own business!
Of all the annoying, incomprehensible, and preposterous things Jaden has done, modeling women’s clothes is not one of them. That was the wrong point to make.
And I think he meant that when Willow goes out she is not surrounded by an army that can protect her the way Jaden does, but it defo came out wrong.
I remember when Roberto Benigni thanked his parents during his Oscar speech. He thanked them for giving him the best gift of his life: their poverty.
That is what pushed him to try and be successful in life never forgetting his roots.
Will on the other hand comes from nothing and he gave his kids everything and more: no education or no ground rules.
His kids have had everything they could possibly desire while all they’d need is an education. Jaden and Willow really are disconnected from the real world and they sound like tools.
ITA and by giving them everything they also gave them a massive sense of entitlement. These 2 seem to think that they should have a free ride in HW just because their last name is Smith. Do u really think Jayden would have got that fashion gig if it wasn’t for who his father is? I can’t stand these 2 kids, they sound like morons everytime they open their gobs.
Have you ever seen Jaden on the Graham Norton show?
I’d slap that brow off his face if I could
I like Will Smith, he’s talented & charming he is the perfect movie star. But he also knew of all the struggles to get there, he worked his ass off to be there. His kids on the other hand have not struggle at all. They use their parents fame to get what they want, Jayden is not even a decent actor & he got movies lined up because of Will. Willow got a record deal & she’s not even a good singer (yeah that whip your hair song was catchy) but again she got it because of Will. The worst thing is that they are so smug about it, they’re not humble or show any signs of humility. I think that’s one of the problems that Hollywood parents have.
“we give her until 11..11:30 … she keeps calling and adding 15 minutes” So what time does Willow actually get home and what is the point of a curfew if you keep adding time?
She probably sets her own curfew but the agreement is that she calls if she wants to change it. Note that he never says she asks for an extension, just that she keeps adding time. It serves the purpose, they know where she is.
I am pretty sure that now Idris will not be James Bond. But this is based on gossip from 15 years ago.
Jude Law was suppose to be Bond, well he was in talks. Then Sienna came along, but it was all civilized. But the nanny incident was too much and the studio decided he will never be Bond, even though he can act, he looked the part, he had perfect accent, he was James Bond.
Now, Idris just broke up his relationship. And there is talk that it is cos of Naomi. Do you really think that the studio will overlook that?
The studio doesn’t want an actor who might be a ladies’ man to play James Bond? Really?
it makes sense. they do not want scandals. they want a gentleman, not a man hoe. Jude Law is a man hoe.
I like what he has to say and this interview, it makes me happy he’s not saying Scientology crap anymore. And he looks fine as hell.
I used to like him. But until he is done with that cult, I just cannot. His family and that cult are bringing him down.
that’s for sure, not his family but that shady cult.
my parents did the very same thing in terms of my curfew/freedoms versus my older brother. the reality is women are not as safe in this world as men are and as unfair as it seemed that he was allowed to do things at age X that i wasn’t allowed to do (got out to certain places/stay out later/etc.), i totally understand why they did it. it was because as a woman in this world, i’m not as safe as my brother is and they have to consider that as parents. i know it pissed them off that they had to tell me no where they had told my brother yes but their priority was keeping me safe.
We need to teach boys how to respect girls. It’s so unfair girls are punished just for being female. I hear you though, I had ZERO freedom growing up. I had to always be home. My brother on the other hand was allowed to come and go as he pleased, they gave him a key to the house and a car ! Mind you, I’m Indian and in my culture boys are seen as God’s while women are just objects that are “owned” or nothing more than burdens. Maybe one day things will change.
An equal solution to that going forward might be a parent deciding to apply the same curfew rules to a son that they would to a daughter, and explaining that to their son. It not only gets rid of the double standard, but it could also teach the son a lesson about male privilege and make him think about the reasons why his parents feel the need to apply those kind of rules to their daughters in the first place.
I agree with you both. I think it was partly difficult b/c my brother was older–my parents didn’t really think about me wanting to do that stuff when I was the same age as him when telling him he could walk uptown with his friends for a movie on a saturday afternoon. Also another factor for my parents at least, was that I was a very small child (at the time— I grew eventually lol) and my brother was very large (a 6’5″ 200 pound 7th grade boy doesn’t look like a 12 year old) so they felt he was safer with a group of friends than I was (and they were not wrong). They definitely weren’t trying to punish me by any means (they proudly raised a raging feminist) but they also weren’t going to send a message to the world about sexism by putting their daughter in what they felt was an unsafe situation. It sucked but I now understand why they did it. And I think if I have daughters, I’ll likely have to do the same thing.
I like Will I think he did a great job in concussion just as good as any of the guys nominated for best actor.
I think celrbrities have to parent their kids differently as the exposure to money, opportunities and resources is vast. My older son is like Jaden totally fearless and it’s not easy negotiating things with him.
Loved his interview!
I’ve always loved will smith, and I think his comments on diversity are very well thought out and so smart and on point. Hollywood does play a major role in acceptance and change, because remember for a lot of people what is seen on tv and movies is their only exposure to that particular group.
Even though it’s marred the Cosby show was extremely important. It’s why today shows like blackish, fresh off the boat, Mindy project, the wire, Jane the virgin (I’ve never seen that one so could be wrong), and while I don’t like it modern family matter they are presenting Black, Asian, Indian, Latino, Jewish people as normal people and if you are living in a community where this diversity doesn’t exsist these shows allow you to “know” someone who is different and see how they much in common you have.
If people question that all they have to do is read books about the impact of sesame st or watch the documentary the browning of America. Hollywood does impact us with this and it should move forward not backwards.
Jane the Virgin is great. If you like Blackish, I think you’d enjoy it, too
Willow has a curfew because it’s a different world for females but is allowed to lay around in bed with 20 year old shirtless guys? (Atleast that was the case when she was 13 posing with Moises Arias).
I have a hard time believing that he has truly stepped away from Scientology. More like he and the church were getting bad press so he is distancing himself to protect his image. That being said, he has a ton of charisma and I enjoy watching him on-screen. ID2 won’t be as good without him.
Jesus, dude. A bit late to the party. I honestly think that all kids need structure to thrive and grow. What and how much depend on the kid’s maturity/personality. But I owe Will Smith, cause BB2 was one of my mom’s fave movies. It was the last one we watched together before she passed away, and she laughed and laughed. And then told me Martin Lawrence was her crush. Don’t ask,I don’t get it either.
Say what you want, but at least his kids are not pap’d getting drunk and high, nor are they walking around half naked. They may say “spacey” things, but I do think they are very aware of their image and they do know right from wrong. They have grown up much more “normal” that the Kardashian/Jenner kids that’s for sure.
That will come, his son is running around wearing girls clothes for attention. If Jayden is identifying as Gender Fluid and speaking up about it (like Sting’s daughter) then i have no issue but he isn’t, its all about getting press attention. Willow is just as bad.
PS. Jayden dated Kylie Jenner.
How can he be quite intelligent and a Scientologist at the same time?!
I’m sorry, just no.
May have been? Have you met your children?
It’s funny how parents don’t even consider that their sons and their “army” might disrespect girls around, because they usually do.
Seriously, how about putting the worse curfew on the people much more likely to DO bad things? Punishing girls for the actions — or possible actions — of boys is despicable, disgusting, and misogynistic. Not that an 11:30 curfew for a 15-year old is exactly punishment, but raising boys with fewer rules than girls is what’s created our mess of a society, and the more societies do it, the worse it is.