The movie role that Will Smith hated with a passion: “I wanted to win”
Throughout the 1990s, Will Smith garnered a reputation as arguably Hollywood’s most famous superstar. Recent past aside, Smith’s turn in film franchises like Men In Black has given him the reputation as a charismatic guy who could make even the most toothless scripts work. Then again, there are always a handful of projects that not even a solid amount of charm can fix.
Throughout the years, Smith’s career has run the gamut of some of cinema’s most wholesome and filthy pieces of entertainment. After starring in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Smith was known as the kid who was known to get into trouble now and again but still had a heart of gold. Even though it wasn’t easy to shake that persona with his squeaky-clean hip-hop career, his dramatic switch to the big screen in movies like Bad Boys and Men in Black turned him into a wunderkind in Hollywood, turning almost anything he touched into solid gold.
There had to be a moment when the bubble burst, though, and as far as Smith is concerned, the moment he knew things could go wrong happened with Wild Wild West. Based on the comedic TV show of the same name, the big screen incarnation had little to do with the original and was filled with some of the most unfunny slapstick committed to screen. Even though Smith starred in the lead role and contributed a theme song for the film, he doesn’t look back on the film that fondly.
When asked about his least favourite performances, Smith mentioned being horrified by the final product, telling GQ, “I wanted to win and be the biggest movie star, and what happened was there was a lag—around Wild Wild West time. I found myself promoting something because I wanted to win versus promoting something because I believed in it”.
Smith has long survived because of his desire to succeed. It’s not necessarily something to deride. To want to be a huge icon is quietly one of the desires almost every actor holds. But Smith seemed to be hellbent on driving box office sales and being considered the number one actor in the world, rather than focusing on the movie at hand.
The public also seemed to agree, as the film notched up a few Razzies during its promotional run for its horrid effects and painfully hacked premise. Looking back on the end product, Smith admitted that the movie is just as painful for him looking back, telling The Hollywood Reporter, “Wild Wild West is just a thorn in my side. To see myself with chaps. I don’t like it.”
Since it was the start of a new decade, Smith took the opportunity to expand his palette in terms of what film roles he took on. Although there was the occasional romantic comedy like Hitch that he took on, many of his future roles focused on more serious fodder like Hancock, Pursuit of Happyness, and I Am Legend.
Even though he has since returned to child-friendly material as the Genie in the live-action Aladdin, Smith seemed to try to erase the clean-cut image that had followed him for decades. Although he might have been looking for any role he could get his hands on as a young man, Smith came to understand movies as something he makes because he wants to express himself rather than earn a quick paycheque.
Smith would become one of the most well-earning movie stars in the industry. Quickly becoming one of the top stars of Hollywood, it would seem that Smith’s misstep with Wild Wild West, mattered very little in his quest for world domination.
