The director Will Smith says “always pushes the envelope”
Throughout most of his career, Will Smith has been a highly sought-after name. After coming through in his acting career in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, movie directors knew that his on-screen charm and charisma would be able to attract huge audience numbers, a suspicion that has been proven to be true time and time again.
After all, Smith has starred in some big-hitting box office movies, including Bad Boys, Men in Black, Independence Day, Ali, The Pursuit of Happyness, I Am Legend and I, Robot. While such films seemed to vary in the quality of Smith’s acting performances, one cannot deny that they were mostly huge commercial successes.
The first time that Smith showed that he could be a mega Hollywood player was in the 1995 buddy cop action comedy Bad Boys, in which he starred alongside Martin Lawrence. Together, Smith and Lawrence played a pair of Miami narcotics detectives who look into a case surrounding $100million worth of missing heroin while also protecting a murder witness from a notorious drug dealer.
Bad Boys was directed by Michael Bay, who would later become known for handling Armageddon, Pearl Harbour and The Rock. The 1995 effort with Smith and Lawrence was the first time Bay directed and was equally the first time he showcased his over-the-top cinematography, special effects prowess, and penchant for huge explosions.
Speaking with the BBC about the Bad Boys sequel released in 2003, Smith spoke of his impression of Bay’s directing style, noting, “With Michael, he always pushes the envelope. He’s always trying to get the actor to do as much stuff as you’re willing to do, and you just have to tell him ‘no’ when you’re not comfortable.”
From Smith’s comments, we can gather that Bay is an obsessive filmmaker who wanted to push his cast and crew to their limits to make his notorious big-budget movies. Smith went on to explain how Bay also showed him and his co-star Lawrence that they could graduate from their previous television roles and establish themselves as Hollywood icons in their own respective rights.
“Michael always made it very clear that he made Martin and I film stars,” Smith said. “He reminds us we were TV stars until he gave us guns and took our shirts off, and then people wanted to have sex with us. It’s pretty darn close to true!” Indeed, the collaboration between Bay, Smith and Lawrence announced the arrival of three of Hollywood’s biggest contemporary icons.
However, that kind of reputation of Smith was tarnished when he infamously slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars ceremony. Still, despite the criticism that Smith received due to his violent act, Bay admitted that he would love to work with the actor again, telling Entertainment Weekly, “Absolutely, 100 per cent. He’s a very even-keeled guy. Very even-keeled. I don’t really care. Hollywood gets very self-absorbed. I really don’t care.”
“I saw the yell from Will. That’s a real Will yell. Will is an amazing fighter. He’s studied boxing,” Bay added. If any director were to know the “real Will”, it would perhaps be Bay, who has worked closely with the actor on a handful of occasions and has notably “pushed” his acting limits, perhaps leading to moments of on-set frustration.
