He may have possibly ruined his career…
With him punching out Kris Rock at the Oscars, doesn’t make him look good….
shareYa think?
A slap is not a punch. Only sissies slap...
The Academy will do what they have to do...or not.
The question is how will studios treat him for casting in blockbusters?
Look how quickly Johnny Depp was removed from the JK Rowling series and Pirates(if a sequel is ever made.)
Or how quickly Mel Gibson went from superstar to indie star (making big dough with his Christ movie in between.)
Big stars who lost their luster got removed from projects just because their earning power dropped. Arnold Schwarzenegger was dropped from Planet of the Apes(and replaced by Mark Wahlberg.) Arnold was dropped from I Am Legend (and replaced by...Will Smith!)
Alec Baldwin is making small indie films in England and Italy.
We shall see. Will's superrich, it won't matter .
But in how big a movie, now?
They said Tom Cruise was over after he jumped on Oprah's couch. He came back. (Needed a big franchise to do it. But now Top Gun is finally coming back, too.)
This is truly a strange moment in the history of Film Stardom. Plenty of actors have reached the top of the profession only to make a mistake some point down the line, and go into decline. It happens quicker for some actors or more of a slow drip drip for others, but they usually do get to enjoy at least a bit of it before that happens. Is the first time that a Star has destroyed themselves (maybe) at the very MOMENT they were "arriving" in the pantheon? Since, Will Smith is pushing 60, winning a "Best Actor" WOULD have come at exactly the right moment, much as it did for Sean Connery with The Untouchables. That point were a star of long-standing transitions into an "elder statesmen", with the pick of choicest (relatively) rare roles for a maturing star. Most starring roles go to younger actors, so it's a lot more competitive for older actors since there are generally few roles for that age bracket. The money isn't the problem, he's got enough of that. It's the quality of work that he might NOT be offered that is the problem. He could be passed over for those choice roles, which may go to someone else. Oh, he will continue to get work, especially if he can somehow cool the public anger being directed towards him. If he plays his cards right he might pull off a rehabilitation at some point in the future. But will that Golden Parachute still be there, or will he turn into late-period Bela Lugosi? Plan Nine From Outer Space 2 would be quite a comedown from Independence Day.
shareJust picturing Smith relegated to the world that is DtV.
shareIts interesting to look at the points various A list stars lost their status after 10-15-20y on top. Usually its to do with movies they headlining bombing and they get the blame, but there's scandel, illness, just getting old etc
Mel and Johnny are the obvious ones (Mel's DUI and then a couple years later the tapped calls, Johnny his divorce fall out/Amber accusing him of battery. Game over)
Arnold - Last Action Hero was a huge bomb/ridiculed (altho True Lies the following year was a hit), then to a lesser extent Batman a few years later, then his heart problems made him abit of an uncertain investment for abit (probably caused some projects to get delayed/canceled like I Am Legend) then his comebacks (End of Days, 6th Day) didnt really work..then he decided to pack it all in for politics (using T3 he was kind of forced to do as a promotion tool really) then there was the illegitimate scandel, then his comeback films (Last Stand, Escape Plan, T5/6) didnt work again, (altho his scandel didnt seem to impact his being cast in movies at all)
Stallone had a few bombs/comedies and Arnie took his action crown in the late 80s (after his box office high point of 86 Rambo II/Rocky IV), then he had a comeback with Cliffhanger (same summer Arnold sent down with LAH) then peaks and troughs from then on. No real scandels
Costner - was headlining hit after hit for a good 7 years until Waterworld (which didnt actually bomb), then few years later The Postman..After those it was kind of support roles, headlining a few low budget thrillers
Murphy - various bombs in the late 80s/90s and BHC3 was a big disappointment.. Aside the Nutty Proffs and Shreks never really came back
Ford - few bombs in the 00s, got old, now been having a nice resurgence revisiting his biggest hits
Spacey - we know what happened
Cage - few bombs in 00s/10s and money issues led to dtv (he talks about it all in recent interviews)
Travolta - a few bombs after SNL/Grease sent him into the box office wilderness (aside the Look Who's Talking) .. Then QT resurrected him and he had a good 5-7y as the biggest A lister in Hollywood ..then a few bombs then down he went again with Battlefield Earth (opening the way into dtv like cage/bruce). He and Cage are due big comebacks any day now
Willis - looks like his condition prevented him continuing to do relevant movies (aside Glass) had to slum it in dtv for his remaining years
Cruise - aside Katie Holmes (couch, divorce) and the whole scientology thing (that everyone just accepts now) nothing really to take him down, and no real bombs, in fact the MIs been getting bigger and bigger (currently Marvel level box office and Top Gun should be similar)..
Pitt - AJolie tried to get him cancelled Depp style, but ppl were having none of it lol , wins Oscar, steady box office . Untouchable
Smith - we'll see (if slap no happen would be the biggest most bankable star in the world now)
There are some great assessments up thread about exactly how and why some of our most major (in this case male) movie stars "lost it" (and in some cases, got it back.)
From christomacin and bozo 500 to start.
Unfortunately, "Will Smith posts" are coming in so fast and furious that these assessment posts disappear from the main Will Smith page. I had to seek them out to respond to them.
You should try to bump this thread from time to time or move it (duplicate) to General.
CONT
Is the first time that a Star has destroyed themselves (maybe) at the very MOMENT they were "arriving" in the pantheon? Since, Will Smith is pushing 60, winning a "Best Actor" WOULD have come at exactly the right moment, much as it did for Sean Connery with The Untouchables. That point were a star of long-standing transitions into an "elder statesmen", with the pick of choicest (relatively) rare roles for a maturing star.
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Its interesting to realize that Will Smith was perhaps approaching that "sweet spot" for "mature" actors that gave "father figure/mentor roles" to Connery (above all), but also Pacino and somewhat DeNiro and (in a streaming series comeback), Kevin Costner. As Hackman, Nicholson(unofficially) and Connery all retired (and in Connery's case, died)..openings appeared for "the older star." I was pegging Jeff Bridges for such a slot, but cancer has gotten in the way (I surely hope he survives it for many years.)
Sidebar: if I'm not mistaken -- and this surely happens to a lot of stars -- Will Smith's stardom was actually in decline in recent years, yes? He had the "cover" of Netflix movies(which pay high but aren't necessarily popular.) He was in the first Suicide Squad, but Margot Robbie got all the press and it wasn't really a hit, was it? He got a not too surprising nostalgia hit in Bad Boys 3 right before COVID hit. But...what else? MUCH else?
Stars at Smith's level aren't going to be destitute if their career short circuits -- I've read that his net worth is in the 200-400 million range. But, it still gonna hurt if he is sent down just as he was about to come back.
CONT
Travolta - a few bombs after SNL/Grease .. Then QT resurrected him and he had a good 5-7y as the biggest A lister in Hollywood ..then down he went again (dtv like cage/bruce). He and Cage are due big comebacks any day now
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What I loved about Travolta's comeback right after Pulp Fiction (which he made for very low star pay) is that once it hit and he got his Oscar nom for it -- he put himself back on the market at top dollar($20 million a movie, maybe?) and IMMEDIATELY booked leads in four or five movies to guarantee a few years of superstar payday. Travolta KNEW it could all fall apart again...so he locked in his paydays.
I recall reading all the titles at once years before all of them were made: Get Shorty, Broken Arrow, Phenonmenon, Michael...they weren't even MADE yet and he could bank the cash.
Then, Travolta faded again. But there is still time for a few more "old character guy" roles.
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CONT
Arnold - Last Action Hero was a huge bomb/ridiculed (altho True Lies the following year was a hit), then to a lesser extent Batman a few years later,
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It was weird -- I'd say that Last Action Hero (in 1993) and then Batman and Robin(in 1997) COMBINED to kill off Arnold's superstardom. Both were promoted as "big summer movies" but failed in those regards and something was wrong with them and Arnold was seen as a big part of that.
Bad luck for Arnold: 1993 and 1997 also had Jurrassic Park movies in them -- wiping out his competitive projects.
And yet, indeed, in between in 1994 -- True Lies. Truly Arnold's last major studio production, courtesy of James Cameron, a huge budget, and "James Bond with bigger set pieces" size to it.
But -- and this is the danger for Will Smith right now -- SOMEBODY at the studios made the decision that Arnold at some point was not worth risking mega-budgets on anymore, at least without James Cameron. You could SEE the budgetary decline in movies like Collateral Damage and The Sixth Day. Arnold got sent back to the "Bs" where he came from (Commando, Raw Deal.) No wonder he segued into Governor. Always the showman/hustler, Arnold made all of these career moves look like they were on purpose.
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CONT
then his heart problems made him abit of an uncertain investment for abit (probably caused some projects to get delayed/canceled) then his comebacks (End of Days, 6th Day) didnt really work..then he decided to pack it all in for politics (using T3 he was kind of forced to do as a promotion tool really) then there was the illegitimate scandel, then his comeback films didnt work (again, altho his scandel didnt seem to impact his being cast in movies at all)
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Of "all of the above," the heart stuff may have been most damaging . Studios want to depend on the stars they hire to make it through production. But all that other stuff went haywire, too.
Look, Arnold was lucky to hit in the 80s. In the 60s, he would have been relegated to "strongman on the caper team" supporting parts, or Tarzan movies or gladiator movies "on the cheap." The 80's brought a kind of high concept TV series cartoonish style to A action films.
CONT
Costner - Waterworld, then few years later The Postman..After those it was kind of support roles, headlining a few low budget thrillers
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One of the classic "rise/fall" stories in Hollywood history.
Though he struggled for awhile in the early 80's, the summer of 1987 brought him one big action hit -- The Untouchables-- and one small sex-and-spies hit -- No Way Out, and he was established.
And then Costner did something pretty impressive. He ran up a series of hits, one right after the other, some small and quirky(Bull Durham, Field of Dreams), some dramatic and major (Dances with Wolves, JFK) and some surprisingly big even if miscast(Robin Hood) or sappy (The Bodyguard.)
It was quite a run. Dances With Wolves was the big one -- Best Picture, Best Director, blockbuster.
And THAT was the seed of Costner's demise. It evidently gave him a justifiably big ego and certainty that he could keep making overlong prestige pictures as a star. But then he made Wyatt Earp(undercut by the more fun Tombstone.) And Waterworld(OK, but way too expensive). And The Postman (the hell was THAT.) The studios simply took his power away. No real scandal here, but cautionary to Will Smith: "they can take it all away" no matter your track record.