Will Smith is still dealing with the aftermath of The Slap. One week ago, it was the biggest story around. Today it feels much less scandalous, much less urgent, not least because a full predator like Louis CK won a Grammy last night. Still, the fact that Will smacked Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars means that Hollywood is not done with punishing Will. His next projects have been indefinitely shelved. One of his next projects was supposed to be Bad Boys 4, but it has been “put on ice” for the time being. Will was also supposed to do a Netflix movie but that’s been shelved too:
The week before the Oscar ceremony, director David Leitch — in a stroke of unintentional good timing — withdrew as the director of a planned Netflix movie Fast and Loose, starring Will Smith. Instead, he moved onto Fall Guy, starring Ryan Gosling, for Universal, which is supposed to start production in August.
A source says Netflix was competing with Universal to be the next project for Leitch, but Universal pulled ahead. According to sources, Netflix put out an urgent call for another director to take over a project featuring the star who was heavily favored to win best actor at the Oscars. But soon after Smith’s attack on Chris Rock on the Oscars stage, Netflix quietly moved the project to the back burner.
Fast and Loose was to tell the story of a crime boss who loses his memory after an attack. Piecing together clues, he discovers that he has led a double identity as a wealthy kingpin and a broke CIA agent. It appears that Netflix was understandably wary of moving forward. It is unclear whether it will try to make the project with another star and director.
Smith now has Apple+’s slave escape drama Emancipation in post-production. The streamer had planned a 2022 debut but has not dated its release. Apple declined to comment. Otherwise, Bad Boys 4 at Sony had been in active development — Smith received 40 pages of the script prior to the Oscars — but will now pause, a source said. A few other projects in pre-production are likely to do the same. Netflix did not respond to requests for comment.
If this is something being done to Will Smith without his input, it’s f–king awful and these studios are overreacting terribly. But I do wonder if these projects are being shelved with Will’s say-so. He is clearly remorseful and very sad about his actions – it would not surprise me if he was making the choice to put some stuff on the back-burner and take some time “off” and time away from the industry. He might want that for himself, and I would imagine his team is telling him to keep a low profile for six months or so and just wait it out. We’ll see.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar.
-
- North America Rights Only – Los Angeles, USA -20220327- Vanity Fair Oscar Dinner held at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California -PICTURED: Will Smith -PHOTO by: INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated before publishing
-
- – Los Angeles, USA -20220327-The 94th Academy Awards-Arrivals -PICTURED: Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith -PHOTO by: Abby Grant/Cover Images/INSTARimages.com -Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith_4749.jpg This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact Instar Images LLC for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207 This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. Instar Images LLC reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded
-
- Oscar® nominee Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith during the 94th Oscars® at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles, CA, on Sunday, March 27, 2022.,Image: 673515422, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Avalon Licensing Ltd. do not claim any Copyright of the attached image WORLD RIGHTS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
-
- Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith during the live ABC telecast of the 94th Oscars® at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles, CA, on Sunday, March 27, 2022.,Image: 673515557, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Avalon Licensing Ltd. do not claim any Copyright of the attached image WORLD RIGHTS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
-
- Will Smith attends the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Radhika Jones celebrating the 94th annual Academy Awards at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 27, 2022 in Beverly Hills, California,Image: 673579164, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Will Smith, Credit line: – / JPI Studios / Avalon
-
- Will Smith attends the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Radhika Jones celebrating the 94th annual Academy Awards at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 27, 2022 in Beverly Hills, California,Image: 673579181, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Will Smith, Credit line: – / JPI Studios / Avalon
Seems like a weird choice to pause projects that aren’t even in production yet. They wouldn’t come out until next year and this will be long forgotten by then.
The Netflix movie lost its director before anything happened and was scheduled to shoot so soon they put out an urgent call? Like…hey anyone want to direct this tomorrow? Doesn’t exactly sound like a passion project or even a project with all its ducks in a row. And the most recent Bad Boys took TWELVE years to come together (although I could see a studio thinking this could lower Smith’s quote a bit…hmmmm). So honestly I’m not sure this story is quite what some would like us to think it is. Feels a bit clickbaity.
Good Lord, you’d think the man incited and supported an insurrection against the US government.
The way its been easier for people to sustain rage and hate towards Will, but current political events (look at how The Slap pushed Clarence and Ginnie Thomas’s treason off the front page) barely warrant more than shock, is so sad to me.
It has blown out of proportion!!
That journalist who asked Mel Gibson about it? Seriously 😱
This is sickening and absolute hypocrisy on the part of these studios. What a f**king disgrace.
Meh. It’s just some PR. Smith is a money maker, and no one is going to take a loss on projects in development.
It could have something to do with with cast insurance. Will’s behavior at the Oscars was out of the ordinary. It may worry underwriters and/or production companies. It’s precisely why so many refused to take chances on Robert Downey Jr. or Lindsay Lohan. We can agree drug use is vastly different from a slap. However, when you have an actor who has cultivated a very specific PG image to suddenly commit assault on international television, well, people get nervous about that when their money is on the line. Just for clarification, I don’t think his career should be over. Nor do I think this is the sole reason for why some of his projects were shelved. I’m sure it’s a myriad of reasons, but money is usually number one.
I thought the same thing, that Will is taking some time for himself and made the decision to pause his projects for the time being.
They would be crazy to cancel Bad Boys 4. It’s a successful franchise and can easily be his comeback film.
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Can’t wait for your derision of Louis CK winning the Grammy in the other article
Me too.
Me three!! When are they going to take down Lois C.an’t K.ut It and his sexual harassment actions?
IF this was Will’s decision, fine. If not, it’s NOT fine!
And when is Chris Rock going to apologize to Jada Pinkett Smith? She’s been the butt of his jokes since ‘97, she certainly deserves an apology!!!!
But they continue to make films with Brad Pitt and other people who have done worse. Heck, Netflix still stands by transphobe Dave Chappelle.
Sad repercusions for Will on the other hand it wil give him time to gather himself and maybe he will come back stronger than ever. he will for ever be known as an oscar winner so that is a bonus. maybe he will do more experimental stuff, and make his own stuff. most of these places just want him for his stardust power. in a few years the work will speak for its self. good luck and stay strong
The projects are just paused. They’ll be back. Hell, Lori Loughlin just returned to “When Calls the Heart!” Will Smith will get past this in time.
It’s harder for a black person to get redemption in Hollywood than a white person.
And the the level of reaction to this is showing how true that is. How many white men have committed offenses of sexual abuses in which the survivor is further victimized by the justice system and yet get redemption while those they’ve targeted struggle to recover?
And yet Mark Wahlberg has a netflix film coming out this year…
Absolutely. MW’s case is a horrendous abuse of money and power and privilege.
Unlike a BIPOC, MW gets to rise like a phoenix from the ashes after spreading around the cash. He pays to have his record expunged and pays off his poor victim. Voila. Cleansed.
Omg what did I miss about Mark Wahlberg??
I assume people are referring to the violent racially motivated hate crimes that Mark W. committed as a teenager in the 90s. I’m not sure if there was also something more recent.
@ Tisme, this is what they are talking about!!!
https://time.com/3623630/mark-wahlberg-pardon/
The best thing he could do right now is take some time off and wait until the bloodthirsty Karen’s find their next target. He and his management team should be looking at his next project as a strategic “comeback” that will be a blockbuster hit.
Agreed. WS will get a comeback, hopefully preceded by genuine self-reflection and perhaps an anger management sponsor.
I keep asking myself whether WS (or for that matter, CR) would be treated differently if he/they were white? Or female? Or older? What if cray-cray Clint Eastwood hauled off and punched Stephen Colbert on stage? Would CE go on a Fox News justification tour? Chatting with Tucker Carlson about how his actions were justified? Followed by an Academy Award nominated picture a short time later?
We like to think we’re a meritocracy, but we have so many implicit and explicit biases. WS has more charisma in his little pinky that most stars have in total. He has had to be that much more extraordinary just to compete.
Yes!!! Or how about the howling of Sam Elliot with POD!!! My gawd, get over yourselves!!!!
I hope it is because all is Will’s decission to put a stop and take some time off, if not, what the H is wrong with all these people? Is it worse a slap than raping, bullying, harassments…?
I am truly amazed by all the reactions afterwards.
The issue is that Black women’s pain and humiliation is supposed to be supported, so how dare Will Smith make white ppl uncomfortable about misogynoir. Trying to punish Will to warn other BIPOC men to not stand up for BIPOC women in order to continue this behavior is the goal. It’s also bc he forced the studios to pay all of minority actors more and by doing so raised their pay. This is Hollywood trying to put Black people back in our place. It won’t work bc some of the most talented actors are BIPOC and the academy isn’t as prestigious as they think they are, especially with all the accolades they give to convicted rapists and pedophiles and the blatant racism.
He did it on live television. That’s the difference. Everyone saw it. And keep seeing it over and over and over. Did you see Louis C.K. harrass those women? No. Did you hear Mel Gibson say sugar tit’s. No. Did you see Mark Walberg stab that man. No. The difference is that you feel closer to the slap. Because you saw it. It would have been better for Will if he did it behind the scenes after the show. I’m not condoning violence. Just saying Will wouldn’t have gotten as much crap if it wasn’t televised. And that’s the Academies problem. They televised it. So now they have to do something about it.
Agree with this. And this is why professional serial abusers make sure to do their thing without witnesses.
Adrian Brody publicly harrassed Halle Berry on Live TV during the Oscars, got some slack from feminists and the rest of Hollywood kept quiet about it. His career didn’t really take a dip, did it?
I’d say forcibly kissing someone without their consent is pretty much the same as slapping someone but apparently it’s different when the person is a white man and the victim is a Black woman.
What is so sad–and I don’t know if anyone researched and/or posted this info, is this: John “Ole’ Rooster Cogburn” Wayne nearly committed a VIOLENT ACT at the 1973 Oscars. Native American/Indigenous Actress Sacheen Littlefeather, who is also a civil rights activist, represented Marlon Brando because Brando declined the acceptance of the award for Best Actor for his performance in “The Godfather”. After the speech (which was cut down by Ms. Littlefeather for 1 minute), Wayne made a loud attempt to physically accost her but was stopped in the nick of time by security and some production peoples:
https://www.sportskeeda.com/pop-culture/news-john-wayne-1973-oscars-attack-clint-eastwood-mocking-sacheen-littlefeather-explained-will-smith-x-chris-rock-slap-sparks-debate
https://www.sportskeeda.com/pop-culture/news-john-wayne-1973-oscars-attack-clint-eastwood-mocking-sacheen-littlefeather-explained-will-smith-x-chris-rock-slap-sparks-debate
Unfortunately, there is no footage shown regarding this incident [someone/somewhere incorrigibly made DAMN sure that it was either stored away forever or destroyed/edited out forever, not to make what-his-ass’ reputation look bad–sigh!]. On the otherhand, this W.S. vs. C.R. debacle will live on for a long time–even when Will will accepted back into most of Hollywood’s and the general public’s good graces and gain respectability from their viewpoints.
John Wayne was backstage when that happened, they didn’t always have cameras on people backstage then. There wouldn’t be any footage to bury. Also security managed to restrain him. It is a shameful incident but how does this make something Will Smith did 50 years later less of an issue?
This is just all so sad and unnecessary esp considering others who have done much much worse who still have careers!
He will be back, bigger and better – am looking forward to Bright 2 🙂 (Pretty please Will).
I liked Bright too. I liked Will Smith doing something different and playing someone so unlikable. Same with Suicide Squad (although I didn’t like the movie as a whole, I liked what he did in it). I wonder if this incident is going to make him go with more safe bets like straight up Oscar fair or badass cool dude action movies, rather than kind of the more varied stuff he’d dipped his toes in to.
The backlash after slap was so huge against him, who can blame the studios for not going forward if the backlask mean possibly that his movies would flop from now on? I wouldnt do it, I think Will Smith wouldnt want to be a movie flop either when he was, up until a week ago, at the height of his carreer? He needs to take the time off, get sued, lose to Chris Rock, come back with an interview with oprah, people are gonna go “awwwwwww, I understand now”, and then life can go on, and we’ll get to see bad boys 4. voilà
@myjobisto princess, I agree that the networks and studios are reacting to the general public reaction to the slap, and therefore putting a pause on projects. It would make them look insensitive if they continued as is, and the pause allows everyone to reflect, apologize and figure out how to do better. Will is too big a star and has been bankable and liked for too long to lose his career over this, and I don’t think Will will get sued by CR, either. He probably should lay low for a while and then do an interview with Oprah for the sake of his reputation.
Michael Bay just said he doesn’t care about the slap and there are babies dying in the Ukraine right now. So I doubt Bad Boys 4 will be affected.
This is for Osita, I tried to post this on one of the other WS posts:
I’m sorry I offended you with my comment, and that I assumed you weren’t a black person. If I had known you were a black woman I would have amended my comment to is “the reaction of American white people and some non-white people has been exhausting.” I would also remove the Kyle Rittenhouse comment, but I would still wonder if the same people finding WS’s actions inexcusable are as heated about the other truly egrigious forms of systemic violence in the US. As you can tell, I remain deeply frustrated by the reaction to WS, and I sincerely believe it was “just” a slap. A slap that came from issues we have no idea about, and which I hope WS is getting support for. Because he deserves support, not because he owes it to anyone except maybe his family to be his best. In short, a bit of grace, secular and/or non-secular.
There is clear evidence of what happened. Chris Rock can easily press charges or sue. His career and reputation has not been damaged. The Academy is taking disciplinary action. Will Smith is remorseful and taking responsibility for his actions. The media needs to stop making this into some terrible, drawn out thing. Keep going after real predators.
I love Will Smith, longtime fan here and I hate this for him. What I’ve been hearing is that people thought him to be one way and the mask fell off that night and he’s someone entirely different. Is that fair to judge a person to be a persona that is one way and not layered like all human beings? F no! But that’s people. They think he’s fake or a phony and been one for 30 years. It’s not that simple. First of all he’s a Libra Sun, Scorpio moon, if you care at all about astrology that is like total opposite personalities. He is mostly to us his Libra sun and Gemini rising, but his emotions got to him that night cos he was nervous and the Scorpio jumped out.
He’s human. We all have these moments and if you haven’t consider yourself lucky that you’ve never been pushed to the brink. I’m not gonna whataboutissm about anyone else because all my favorite celebs, most of them are dead from drugs or suicide. I try not to judge. People are complex and it’s sad to me that these people are not letting Will have space to be human.
We all have our bad moments. Will just usually hasn’t been showing his. Though frankly, I think his self-control sounds like it’s been eroding over the last few years of drama, and he was possibly masking quite a lot of trauma and shit, according to what I read about his book.
That said, probably nobody thought he had the potential to up and slap a dude at the Oscars either. That’s the shit we expect from Kanye.
A lot of people were outraged by the standing ovation and I want to add that Will and Jada had the cojones to urge a boycot in 2016 when ALL the nominees were white and EVERYONE profited from this boycott/controversy. If only whites were nominated, the process isn’t legitimate. Not valid. Bogus. A failure. That led to changes like adding more members of color, doubling the nominees. It’s not equal now, we don’t get a cookie, but it’s slightly better.
Pedro Almodovar (sp?) was super critical of the ovation and he’s a big name globally. He needs to consider that his movies benefited A LOT by the changes made after 2016 and that adulation and applause at the Oscars is most often for a career’s work, not a moment. Don’t show up, sit in the front row, celebrate your nominees and rant without acknowledging the fights waged before you, you’re standing on the shoulders of giants. Sorry to rant but it bugged me.
Well thank God Pedro Almodovar won’t be making any religious /spiritual films having denied opposing force.
Oh FFS. I’m on the “Will was absolutely in the wrong” team but I hate that unrelated companies are taking actions now. I understand the Academy had to do something (I think they should have done more at the time, to escort him out and perhaps expel him for a year or three), because this happened during their major event, in their hall, and it was technically a crime (even though Chris Rock then decided not to sue). But why does Netflix care? This has nothing to do with them. And it was a slap, not a murder.
I sort of think this is a good opportunity to bring up actors who are currently acting and still get work and shouldn’t: Jared Leto, Sean Penn, Shia LeBoef; Casey Affleck, Jeremy Renner etc. The historical issues are salient but all of these studios have tried to claim they support #MeToo but they don’t, they keep hiring these guys. I think the comparisons with his current peers will have more effect in the long run.
What are Leto and Renner’s #metoo stories? I’m not of fan of them but hadn’t heard anything. What are the stories?
Renner allegedly physically and verbally abused his ex-partner. Jared Leto allegedly groomed underage girls. There has been a fair amount of reporting on both of you do a search.
The whisper network regarding Leto is old as time and pretty much on the same level as Weinstein. I remember hearing stories from 10 years ago and more that he is using his fame to abuse his teenage fans. Whenever it comes up, there’s dozens of people who have stories. He must have a lot of power since nothing ever turned up publicly/officially.
Not that it matters at this point, but I’m curious as to how people are so sure that he is “clearly remorseful and very sad” based off of 1 instagram post and 1 public statement, that were very likely written by his publicist/PR team?
And what would prove “remorse”? Is there a blood test or an x-ray? Perhaps a mind reader could tell us?
Proof of remorse – interesting concept. Opportune time to call in body language experts utilized by British tabloid media?
I said last week that I think he will be back and I still think that’s true. My guess is all of these moves are either Will taking a step back and its his choice or just temporary pauses while he lays low for a bit.
I’m someone who didn’t like what he did, but i’m not canceling him. We’ll watch Independence Day this summer the same way we always do. My husband will still watch the next Bad Boys (he hated the third one but he’s always going to give Mike Lowery a chance), I’ll check on his next project the same I check out all his projects. I don’t think I’m alone in that.
If they’re truly shelving or canceling projects, that seems a bit much, but if something wasn’t set to come out soon or go into production right away, I could see them taking a pause until the media frenzy dies down a bit. It sounds like the Netflix one was scrambling to find a director anyway, which would be a bigger reason to pause it. And the Apple+ one never had a release date other than 2022, and it’s only April.
So Will Smith slapped Chris Rock, a man who has been targeting black women for ages while Mel Gibson stills makes films and Louis C.K. wins a Grammy for comedy. Something stinks
It would be interesting to know who can vote for comedy Grammys. The comedy world accepts and supports a lot of awful behavior. Louis CK lost most of his film and television work (there are things he was a creator on that he couldn’t be removed from) except for some really obscure things. His comedy specials have been self-produced as far as I can tell. So he hasn’t been welcomed back by Hollywood at large.
But he has been welcomed back by Comedy Central, they produced the record that made him eligible for the Grammy.
I think the slap was dumb but also this is ridiculous. Have people never been to wal mart or a bar? You’ll see way worse, stupid behavior. This performative pearl clutching is so insane! Many people work on films and shelving them for the dumb behavior of one person is unfair to all the other artists and workers. Chris, Jada and Will are all fine, hugely wealthy, privileged individuals. Apologize, change your behavior and move tf on.
IF this is a PR move (and I’m really not sure if it is), I think it’s kind of genius because all I feel is ‘poor Will Smith, let the man have his comeback!’
Ultimately, and perhaps I am naive, I think Will Smith’s career will be okay. I actually predict he will make a full rebound career-wise and in the eyes of the public. There’s the initial gut reaction, but time moves on and people focus on current things. The intense initial shock has already worn off (I hope). He’s just so beloved. And on top of that, he has since shown genuine remorse and thoughtfulness. As we have seen, people who have done far, far worse in the public eye have rehabilitated their images. I mean, things that are orders of magnitude worse. Maybe this is a bad take, but I just see Hollywood (and frankly American society) as VERY forgiving towards powerful men in general. Even more so if they are likable and charming guys. Of course, historically, that certain willingness to forgive and forget has extended to mostly white men. But I think Will has significant clout and is genuinely liked/respected by his industry peers. I guess time will tell. I really hope the piling on Will comes to an end, especially now that people have had time to breath and reflect on the situation. And I hope people are now seeing this with a more empathetic lens as this is clearly a nuanced situation.
I agree, I really don’t think this will hurt him much at all. Far worse people get away with a lot more.
I also think the standing ovation he got signaled the sheer amount of love and support he had in that room.
He’s been making the right moves, so he will be back and people will be pleased to see him. This might be a good time for him to really kick his producer career in gear.
Agreed. And I do wonder what the reaction would have been if it were Jada who had done the slapping, for curiosity’s sake. I really don’t have an answer.
The repercussions of the Oscars incident may be a factor, but I’m wondering how much it truly is. There is a reason why they have the term ‘development hell’ in Hollywood. Projects fall apart all the time. I just started reading Cary Elwes’ book about the making of The Princess Bride and he spent the first chapter describing all the people who wanted to make the book into a film and had things derail on them. Antman also had hassles during production. So, some of this may be due to Will Smith and some of it may not.
The slap itself could have been played off and arguably justified. It’s when he started hollering expletives at the top of his lungs that it was over. Chris was letting him turn it into a joke at first when he said “Will smith just slapped the shit out of me.” Nervous laughter from the room. But then Will took it past the point of no return.
This is just a means to punish a Black man for not staying in his place. This discourse has literally lasted longer than Alec Baldwin’s incident on the Rust set.
White media isn’t letting it blow over because the want Will and his family dragged through the dirt so they’ll never work again (not saying that will happen but that’s the idea).
I’m also annoyed that the discourse we should have been having regarding misogynoir and the cultural use of Black women’s bodies, their hair especially, as the butt of jokes has been pushed entirely aside.
The need to justify punishing Smith outside of the avenues of where he should be punished is on brand for a lot of cultural and historical racism, though. I just wish more people would recognise that instead of claiming it has nothing to do with race (the usual dodge).
Get over yourself and your white man comments. I’m not white but even I’m not dumb enough to compare the two. Baldwins troubles are far from over and the reason this is ongoing is because America is obsessed with gossip and this kind of trite rubbish is more in that lane. Your ex president was Trump prices you’re not the smartest country. This is your biggest news. More proof? I can go on and on. Viva Europe. We know better. We don’t dislike Will Smith because he’s black but because he’s a tool and a mediocre actor. Hellooooo
I love how people give a shit about 2 people in a sham marriage who have more money than God. This isn’t news. Move on. Yes, I get it: if I don’t care, why did I read it. I read it because most of the comments are so ridiculous it cracks me up. Hey, even mine cracks me up. I’m typing BS to a bunch of armchair zombies who don’t get laid, but badly need to.