I just read in Total Film that the top grossing movie star now is... Will Smith!
Seriously? Will Smith? I can barely name any titles he's been in, in recent year. Except for Hitch, which I rented a few days ago, and gave up on after five minutes.
It's not that I don't like him, I think the Fresh Prince is all right (though with sometimes mediocre writing), and that he does solid work. I just had no idea that he's a huge star now.
...I wouldn't think so either. That is surprising.
ReplyDeleteThe Men in Black movies did very well, then there's Independence Day, Legend of Bagger Vance, I Robot, Ali, and more. I'm not a big fan and I'm surprised he's the most bankable, but he has brought in a lot of dough.
ReplyDeleteWill Smith is an intelligent actor. He has the ability to understand concepts and work with creatives (director/designer/writers) to achieve the best mix of what to put on the screen to make people react - and spend money. He had a full 4-year scholarship to attend MIT, but he blasted it with his career interest in acting. He's one of the few good ones.
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed with him as an actor and very much enjoyed him last year in "Pursuit of Happyness"[sic]
ReplyDeleteThe interviews he gives also seem to be of a higher caliber compared to other actors in my opinion as well.
I too agree with KabelYaache. He's a good rapper, actor, and if i am not mistaken, he's also a director.
ReplyDeleteFrom his Wikipedia article:
ReplyDeleteHe is also one of only three actors in the history of film to have seven consecutive US$100 million blockbusters, the two other being Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks.
While it is widely reported that Smith turned down a scholarship to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he never applied to MIT,[6] although he was admitted to a "pre-engineering program" there.[7] According to Smith, "My mother, who worked for the School Board of Philadelphia, had a friend who was the admissions officer at MIT. I had pretty high SAT scores and they needed black kids, so I probably could have gotten in. But I had no intention of going to college."[8]
Doesn't look like he needed it either!
ReplyDeleteI never really enjoyed Fresh Prince, but when I saw him in Ali, I really changed my mind about him. I'm glad I saw that film, if it hadn't been directed by Michael Mann I would probably have left it on the shelf, and missed a good film.
ReplyDeleteHis comedy/action (MIB and WWWW) are pretty good.
I liked Ali overall but wasn't convinced by Smith's performance. For one thing he has kind of a pencil neck. He did train hard and put on a lot of muscle, but I guess not enough.
ReplyDeleteHe also seemed to be doing a kind of caricature, even in the scenes where Ali didn't have any cameras on him.
I was reminded of the comments of T.E. Lawrence's brother after seeing Lawrence of Arabia. Among other things, he said "I should not have recognized my own brother." That's even apart from the obvious physical differences, having the 6'2" O'Toole playing the 5'5" Lawrence... At least Will Smith was Ali's height, or maybe an inch off. I think Smith is 6'2" and Ali was 6'3".
"It's not that I don't like him, I think the Fresh Prince is all right (though with sometimes mediocre writing), and that he does solid work. I just had no idea that he's a huge star now."
ReplyDeleteIf you succeed in pushing that huge rock off of yourself, you might be able to actually perceive reality. Will Smith has been a star for a while. And they have running water in Copenhagen now too.
I don't think he was denying Will Smith was a star, but did not know that Smith was the top grossing movie star in the world right now.
ReplyDeleteI think it may be partly that the movies he's been in, in recent years have not been in my arena. I did enjoy MiB.
ReplyDeleteMe too. I haven't seen Hitch or I Am Legend or anything else he's done. I haven't even seen Independence Day and that was made in 1996! So I was as surprised as you! (I too enjoyed MiB, and to a lesser extent the sequel.)
ReplyDeleteI mean to say anything else he's done recently.
ReplyDelete