WILL SMITH, UNCHAINED

I like it.

Smith is a great actor when he wants to be. The question is whether or not he's willing to sacrifice a higher paying gig to do this.

I think he might still have some Fresh Prince of Bel Air money tucked away somewhere - I don't think a pay cut'll be too big a problem.

 

Tarantino called this movie Django - but it's really starting to feel like Boss Nigger...

Will Smith has been wavering for a while now, the last time I was legitimately excited by a performance of his was, no surprise, ALI. Tis true his name didn't even cross my mind for the role, but this is an interesting prospect. Talking purely numbers, you put Tarantino and Smith on a marquee, and there won't be enough tickets to go around.

 

Also, I guess I can sort of see the Boss Nigger comparison with the Western and bounty hunter angle, but not so much that it raises an eyebrow. So far there only appears to be an extremely nominal connection.

Of all the actors I don't want to see ad-lib in a Tarantino film, Will Smith floats near the top. However, I was an early Will Smith supporter (Wild Wild West in the theater killed that, cliche, but true). If he wants to do the hard-R grittiness that Hancock and I am Legend seemed to imply, then I'm open to being surprised. It might be genius casting really.

It would be interesting to see Big Willie do something a little different from his usual fare, but deep down in my heart, I know Michael Jai White is perfect for this role.

I think it speaks to the greatness of this idea that in the last thread about this film, no one threw out Smith in their fantasy cast. It's surprising, even though on paper it seems to make so much sense (#1 American movie star in most anticipated action movie in development that's not the Avengers). For all of the action hero roles (Ali not falling into this category) Smith has taken, he's never had one with real gravitas or real depth. This should be good.

ahem...
 

http://www.chud.com/community/forum/thread/132568/details-on-qt-s-newest/50#post_3150331

 

 

I treat the prospect of Will Smith in a Tarantino movie the way I would look at medicine that would be entirely beneficial and yet taste like warm piss. It won't go down nice, but we'll get a good movie out of it.

I want him to take this so badly. I would love for Will Smith to be in a movie that I like again. I can't think of one since the first Men in Black. And yeah I know, you don't know you like it until you've seen it and all that; but I think this has a much better shot at being good than M.I.B.3. or whatever else he's involved with now-a-days, so I'm holding my breath.

Career wise, this is a no-brainer for Smith. Seven Pounds was ignored by virtually everyone, and by all accounts MIB III is shaping up to be a disaster of epic proportions. The guy is going on nearly 3 years since he's had a major hit, and even longer than that since he's had anything resembling critical praise. He'd have to be a massive ding-dong to let money get in the way of being in a Tarantino flick.

Honestly I think Smith would have been perfect for this 12-15 years ago, so I can't say I mind too much.  Still... Anthony Mackie would be so great.

Personally, I'd like to see QT go for Chiwetel Ejiofor.

The real question is whether or not Smith is willing to say and do what the role requires?  Saying the "N-word"?  Partial nudity?  Cold-blooded killing without making wisecracks?

 

If not, QT will move on to someone else.  I know Quentin likes to pretend he always gets his first choice for the roles in his films, but that isn't true.  Doubly so when it comes to "stars".  Sylvester Stallone passed on Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, and Death Proof.  Mickey Rourke also passed on Pulp Fiction and Death Proof.  Warren Beatty and Kevin Costner both passed on the role of Bill before QT decided to offer it to David Carradine.  Leonardo DiCaprio turned down Inglourious Basterds.

Smith being in the movie would be amazing. Also, they need a D'Urville Martin type up in Django Unchained.

Dammit, I was pumped for Smith but that suggestion's gonna haunt me.

I refuse to get excited until an actual casting announcement is made.   Quentin's gone through too many actors to get to a role before for me to get enthusiastic about Will Smith.  Beatty or Costner as Bill?  Stallone or Rourke as Stuntman Mike?  DiCaprio as Aldo Raine or Hans Landa?

Not my first choice, but I'm in no position to argue against Tarantino when it comes to casting. No one is. He could cast Tyler Perry and I still would mind so much.

100% agreed.

I think Will Smith has been coasting too long, it's time for him to remind us why he's so famous again.

If QT wants a black actor for Django, he should definitely not cast Smith. Michael K Williams for the win!

Edited by Alex Augustine - 5/7/11 at 6:52am

This just in: Michael Jai White is not a good actor, at all. He's fine if the role is all physical or if it's a riff on bad acting like Black Dynamite, but the guy can't actually, you know, act.

Man, if money kills this deal... How much green does one actor need? And if Smith doesn't take the role, well at least there's no shortage of great black actors to fill the spot. (Refraining from using "African-American" here cuz of Idris Elba and Chewtel Ejiofor.)

Money's not mentioned anywhere in the article, so how do you know that he'll be offered anything less than he was for doing Seven Pounds or Pursuit of Happyness?

All just inferring shit. All the big stars who appear in a QT picture take pay cuts. Smith is one of the highest paid stars right now. Then again I have no idea what he made for his last couple of films and the trend of astronomically high paydays is on the wane, so maybe if Will Smith doesn't do DJANGO UNCHAINED it will be due to scheduling.

If he actually did cast Tyler Perry, Spike Lee's head would fucking explode. Which reminds me, I love Lee, but I can't help but believe that he'll be putting in his 2 cents when this film comes out, if not before.

 

Oh, so there's someone else? Nice.

 

Granted, I wouldn't put it quite as strongly. But I've been a wee bit baffled by his name getting thrown around as ideal/dream-casting for a role like this in a QT film.

 

Not sure how I feel about the Smith idea. I mean, on the one hand I'm sure it'd be awesome. But my initial reaction is, "boring."

 

I will most assuredly eat those words, however.

 

There is no way in hell Smith would be getting the same for this as he's getting for MIB III, let's just put it that way.

 

Don't get me wrong, I don't think Smith is greedy or anything, but the article implies that he already has projects lined up. Deals may have already been made, deals for a lot of money. It might COST him money to drop everything to be in this. 

 

I'm sure he WANTS to do it, but when huge amounts of money are on the line, even Tarantino takes a back seat. Smith wouldn't be the first high profile actor to turn him down for financial or scheduling reasons.

QT's famous for either discovering new stars or reinvigorating old ones, but with this and Bitt in Basterds it looks like his new interest is in working with the biggest stars in the world while they're in their prime. If Smith doesn't take it I'll bet they court another big name for the role.

 

But I think Smith will take it. He's as savvy as they come when it comes to career moves, and he has to know what a potentially iconic Tarantino role could do for his credibility.

 

 

 

Will Smith and Denzel Washington are like the only two black dudes with drawing power in Hollywood (and lest we forget that Washington is getting up there in years), that's a terribly small pool to choose from. A puddle really.

 

 

Good (depressing) point.

Trust me, there are more. 

 

 

Can I get a Phil fancasting Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach credit for this?

 

Except in Spawn, of course, where he gave Olivier a run for his money in acting tortured!

 

(I agree with you wholeheartedly)

While Smith seems to have a few projects in the early planning stages, I can't find any information on a project that he has ready to go after he finishes his work on Men In Black III...............

 

The Legend of Cain - A biblical vampire tale.  This one looks closest to filming, but every bit of info I find places it as a 2013 release.

Bad Boys III - Still being written and Bay has another project lined up to direct before it.

The Last Pharoah - Still in scripting stage

Untitled Sci-Fi Project - This is the M. Night Shyamalan project that he might do with his son.  Can't find anything about an actual deal or a production timeline though.

 

The rest are just in limbo (Michael Mann's Empire, The City That Sailed) or have been cancelled (I Am Legend prequel, Hancock II) or are just rumors (Independence Day II).

 

 

Unless he has something ready to go that we aren't aware of, Big Willie is wide open for filming with Tarantino this fall.  I don't think money would prevent him from doing the project and it doesn't look like scheduling will either.  If Smith passes, it will be because of the material.

I'm not gonna lie, I just want Black Dynamite Goes West.

Will Smith is in a lot of crap, but he's usually very good in that crap. His performances are usually the best thing about his movies even if they are often unable to fully climb out of the shit heaps.

 

While that is true, there are only 4 or 5 white actors who have real drawing power. Sure there are lots more white 'leading men', but there aren't many stars.

I can't help but feel that Will Smith is a little vanilla for a QT film. He can be a fine actor when he wants to be but he seems a little too 'family friendly'. But if it means that film gets funding I can live with it.

 

I can't believe those people really passed on Pulp Fiction. Is that true? Man... of all the shite that Stallone has been in and he passes on Pulp Fiction.

Smith would be AMAZING under QT. I am so for this.

This is precisely why I think this news might just be a genius move for Smith at this point in his career. I miss liking the guy.

 

I'm equally concerned about Smith taking a step back from creative control. He seems to shepherd many of his projects. Working alongside the writers, producers, and shaping the product. He's a brand and wants the movies tailored for him.

A] That is a busy schedule, but we all know how some projects can easily die on the vine.

B] Material... This is also one of the bigger sticking points here. Will he want to tarnish his 4 quadrant image to be in something so obviously controversial? I doubt it.

 

If this wishful-thinking casting happens and the project maintains the current racially-charged premise, I'll eat my hat (which just happens to be a sombrero made of nacho).

 

If he is cast, it WILL maintain the controversial aspects.  There is no way Tarantino would water down his script just to make an actor happy................especially when there are countless other actors who would be willing to take Smith's place.  Besides, Quentin just isn't wired that way.

That's why I don't think he will be cast ultimately. Or more correctly, Will won't be signing any dotted lines.

 

And he'll be a fool and a coward if he passes that up. I can't believe people give Cruise, with all his hard work, all the shit they do and leave Smith just idly cruising by.

Well Smith seems like a fun bloke, whereas Cruise appears weird, controlling and intense. Although people who have met him - including Nick - say he's a nice guy who works very hard. So who knows?

Regardless, Smith should do this. He's entering his mid 40s and he may have peaked. 7 pounds underperformed and MIB 3 is apparently a disaster. He needs to reinvent himself before audiences get bored of him.

Smith would be an absolute fool to pass this opportunity up, but I won't be shocked if he does.

 

I'd also like to echo the Tom Cruise statement.  The man obviously had/has personal issues in life, but his body of work speaks for itself.  Look at the directors he has chosen to work with.............Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma, Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, Ridley Scott, Michael Mann, Paul Thomas Anderson, Tony Scott, John Woo, Rob Reiner, Neil Jordan, etc.  While not all of the projects he made with them turned out to be stellar works, at least he is willing to try.

Cruise should do something like COLLATERAL again. Villains suit him.

I'll third (or fourth?) the Cruise trumpeting. The man is still a top notch actor, and he's not afraid to attach himself to genre projects (At The Mountains Of Madness, please happen!), and Big Willie still seems to be playing it safe, but as many others have said, this would make him interesting again.

 

This talk of Cruise should have him put in the movie somehow. Anywhere.

 

 

If not, I would gladly see Black Dynamite Goes West.

Yeah, it's true.  While I don't know why Sly passed on Pulp, I know that he actually wanted to do Death Proof but had a scheduling conflict.  He's stated before that he would like to work with Quentin at some point.  Barring anymore scheduling mishaps, it might actually happen someday.  Hell, he probably would have agreed to do Basterds if QT's original concept of it completely being a "Men On A Mission" movie had held true.  God knows how many times that script changed over the decade he was working on it.  Back in the late 90s, he initially spoke of trying to get the big action stars of the day in the film.  Hell, at the time Michael Madsen and Bo Svenson were pseudo-attached.  Assuming he had gotten Basterds made a decade earlier under the initial concept........I can easily see Stallone as Aldo Raine, Willis as The Bear Jew, and Arnold as Hugo Stiglitz.

 

Best guess on Pulp?  Stallone was still at peak popularity back in the day and probably didn't even blink twice when passing up an ensemble indie crime flick.................if his agent at the time ever even entertained the offer.