Will Smith Admits He Made ‘Wild Wild West’ For All The Wrong Reasons
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Will Smith was once the king of the summer. After hits like Independence Day and Men in Black made huge bank during blockbuster season, So Warner Bros. thought they could count on rack up some cash for the studio with a film adaptation of the classic TV show Wild Wild West, and they weren’t entirely wrong.
Wild Wild West raked in $222 million worldwide on a budget of $170 million, but it was obliterated by critics, and there’s probably been no moment in time where someone has unironically wanted to watch Wild Wild West at home. One of the worst summer blockbusters ever, Wild Wild West is an absolute nightmare, and Will Smith knew it.
After 17 years, Will Smith seems to be sorry for convincing audiences to go see a movie that featured Kenneth Branagh with some of the most ridiculous ? hair ever, Kevin Kline in drag, and a giant mechanical spider. Find out why Will Smith regrets Wild Wild West and what ultimately made him decide never to make a movie for the same reasons ever again.
Will Smith recently appeared on a Cannes Lions panel, and the conversation turned to Muhammad Ali. While discussing the athlete’s legacy (via THR), Smith said, “He was unwilling to compromise for money, accolades, he was living his values rich or poor.” And he followed up by acknowledging that he didn’t always live his life that way, specifically with regard to his decision to make Wild Wild West back in the late ’90s. The actor candidly said:
"I had so much success that I started to taste global blood and my focus shifted from my artistry to winning. 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."
It’s easy to understand how fame and success just makes you hungry to stay on top and continue being the next big thing in Hollywood. And the result was a movie that was nominated for eight Razzie awards, back when the awards actually felt like real kicks to Hollywood’s perfectly straight teeth. However, Smith realizes now that not only does he not want to trick his audience into seeing the movie, but that it’s very difficult to do so nowadays. Discussing his job as not only an actor but a promoter of his work, he says:
"Smoke and mirrors in marketing and sales is over. People are going to know really quickly and globally whether a product keeps its promises. I consider myself a marketer. My career has been strictly being able to sell my products globally, and it’s now in the hand of fans. I have to be in tune with their needs and not trick them into going to see Wild Wild West."
He also comments on how technology has allowed word on whether a movie is good or bad to travel much faster, making the trickery he mentioned before even more difficult:
"Back in the ’80s and ’90s you had a piece of ? movie you put a trailer with a lot of explosions and it was Wednesday before people knew your movie was sh*t. But now what happens is 10 minutes into the movie, people are tweeting ‘This is sh*t, go see Vin Diesel’. It’s funny to go sit in a meeting in Hollywood now. It’s a new idea that we have to make good movies."
My question is, if Hollywood realizes that it’s not as easy to trick audiences, at least in the eyes of Will Smith, then why do they seem to be pumping out worse movies? Maybe it’s because Hollywood only ever seems to learn one lesson at a time, it’s usually never the right one, and they forget the other lessons they learned when a new one comes along.
Wild Wild West raked in $222 million worldwide on a budget of $170 million, but it was obliterated by critics, and there’s probably been no moment in time where someone has unironically wanted to watch Wild Wild West at home. One of the worst summer blockbusters ever, Wild Wild West is an absolute nightmare, and Will Smith knew it.
After 17 years, Will Smith seems to be sorry for convincing audiences to go see a movie that featured Kenneth Branagh with some of the most ridiculous ? hair ever, Kevin Kline in drag, and a giant mechanical spider. Find out why Will Smith regrets Wild Wild West and what ultimately made him decide never to make a movie for the same reasons ever again.
Will Smith recently appeared on a Cannes Lions panel, and the conversation turned to Muhammad Ali. While discussing the athlete’s legacy (via THR), Smith said, “He was unwilling to compromise for money, accolades, he was living his values rich or poor.” And he followed up by acknowledging that he didn’t always live his life that way, specifically with regard to his decision to make Wild Wild West back in the late ’90s. The actor candidly said:
"I had so much success that I started to taste global blood and my focus shifted from my artistry to winning. 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."
It’s easy to understand how fame and success just makes you hungry to stay on top and continue being the next big thing in Hollywood. And the result was a movie that was nominated for eight Razzie awards, back when the awards actually felt like real kicks to Hollywood’s perfectly straight teeth. However, Smith realizes now that not only does he not want to trick his audience into seeing the movie, but that it’s very difficult to do so nowadays. Discussing his job as not only an actor but a promoter of his work, he says:
"Smoke and mirrors in marketing and sales is over. People are going to know really quickly and globally whether a product keeps its promises. I consider myself a marketer. My career has been strictly being able to sell my products globally, and it’s now in the hand of fans. I have to be in tune with their needs and not trick them into going to see Wild Wild West."
He also comments on how technology has allowed word on whether a movie is good or bad to travel much faster, making the trickery he mentioned before even more difficult:
"Back in the ’80s and ’90s you had a piece of ? movie you put a trailer with a lot of explosions and it was Wednesday before people knew your movie was sh*t. But now what happens is 10 minutes into the movie, people are tweeting ‘This is sh*t, go see Vin Diesel’. It’s funny to go sit in a meeting in Hollywood now. It’s a new idea that we have to make good movies."
My question is, if Hollywood realizes that it’s not as easy to trick audiences, at least in the eyes of Will Smith, then why do they seem to be pumping out worse movies? Maybe it’s because Hollywood only ever seems to learn one lesson at a time, it’s usually never the right one, and they forget the other lessons they learned when a new one comes along.
Comments
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The user and all related content has been deleted.
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he has couple bad movies. men in black 3 was ?
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Not everyone is gonna make amazing movies every time. Movie producers knew smith was a huge star and would see it on his name alone, back then there was no rotten tomatoes or Internet to spread word so quickly when movies were complete ? . Smith wanted a pay day, I don't blame him.
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He passed on being Neo in the Matrix for this
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he has couple bad movies. men in black 3 was ?
Watched mib3 randomly like a year or so after it dropped, I thought it was actually pretty funny. And it actually managed to make the whole story make sense.Black_Samson wrote: »after...earth
I blame m. night shamalamalalan. -
KingFreeman wrote: »he has couple bad movies. men in black 3 was ?
Watched mib3 randomly like a year or so after it dropped, I thought it was actually pretty funny. And it actually managed to make the whole story make sense.Black_Samson wrote: »after...earth
I blame m. night shamalamalalan.
Can't blame m. Night, will pretty much green lighted everything and picked the director -
af.r.i.c.a. wrote: »He passed on being Neo in the Matrix for this
I read it was because he wanted humour in the Matrix and those trannis ran him -
Will Munny wrote: »Not everyone is gonna make amazing movies every time. Movie producers knew smith was a huge star and would see it on his name alone, back then there was no rotten tomatoes or Internet to spread word so quickly when movies were complete ? . Smith wanted a pay day, I don't blame him.
Yes there was, it was 1999 not 1989. There was no Facebook/Twitter and forum wasn't that popular but there were online communities back then, were they discussing WWW idk.
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vagrant-718 wrote: »KingFreeman wrote: »he has couple bad movies. men in black 3 was ?
Watched mib3 randomly like a year or so after it dropped, I thought it was actually pretty funny. And it actually managed to make the whole story make sense.Black_Samson wrote: »after...earth
I blame m. night shamalamalalan.
Can't blame m. Night, will pretty much green lighted everything and picked the director
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Well he also (I believe) abandoned Independence Day 2 and Django Unchained for After Earth.. dude started believing his own hype
I think that movie brought him down to earth (no pun).. -
Best part movie -
Well he also (I believe) abandoned Independence Day 2 and Django Unchained for After Earth.. dude started believing his own hype
I think that movie brought him down to earth (no pun)..
I read that he turned down Django because he didnt believe Django was the lead character in the film. He thought Dr. Schultz was the lead character.
Ego. -
....i still havent seen concussion
? look boring as hell -
The after earth arguement makes no sense
He says in the article he wants to promote movies he believes in
After Earth was a vehicle for his sons career why wouldn't he push it? -
I kinda enjoyed wild west wasn't as bad as the reviews ..he should have took a risk on django unchained tho since Quentin wrote it with him in mind but of course he didn't wanna step out side the box
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Well he also (I believe) abandoned Independence Day 2 and Django Unchained for After Earth.. dude started believing his own hype
I think that movie brought him down to earth (no pun)..
I read that he turned down Django because he didnt believe Django was the lead character in the film. He thought Dr. Schultz was the lead character.
Ego.
Will likes to play safe roles. Django would've been too controversial for him. -
The after earth arguement makes no sense
He says in the article he wants to promote movies he believes in
After Earth was a vehicle for his sons career why wouldn't he push it?
The Pursuit Of Happyness and Karate Kid with Will himself as a producer on both films should have been enough "vehicle" for his son's career
After Earth was overkill... -
Well he also (I believe) abandoned Independence Day 2 and Django Unchained for After Earth.. dude started believing his own hype
I think that movie brought him down to earth (no pun)..
I read that he turned down Django because he didnt believe Django was the lead character in the film. He thought Dr. Schultz was the lead character.
Ego.
Afterwards he try say it was because he "wanted to make the greatest love story ever" smh I wouldn't have been in Django either but I'd have had different reasons. -
Well he also (I believe) abandoned Independence Day 2 and Django Unchained for After Earth.. dude started believing his own hype
I think that movie brought him down to earth (no pun)..
I read that he turned down Django because he didnt believe Django was the lead character in the film. He thought Dr. Schultz was the lead character.
Ego.
That's why he turned it down.
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CeLLaR-DooR wrote: »af.r.i.c.a. wrote: »He passed on being Neo in the Matrix for this
I read it was because he wanted humour in the Matrix and those trannis ran him
He's said for years why he turned down The Matrix. He said the way they pitched it to him made it sound confusing as ? and he didn't get the concept of it -
*Hits blunt*
What if... after saving his wife, Django fights during the Civil War and becomes a war hero... then becomes a hired gun and has to team up with yet another white bounty hunter to stop a legless Confederate inventor from rebooting the war?
Maybe Will didn't take the part because it's a prequel to Wild Wild West...
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Yes, it was a ? movie but it made back it's budget and had the hit single so it wasn't a loss monetary wise by any means.
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The after earth arguement makes no sense
He says in the article he wants to promote movies he believes in
After Earth was a vehicle for his sons career why wouldn't he push it?
The Pursuit Of Happyness and Karate Kid with Will himself as a producer on both films should have been enough "vehicle" for his son's career
After Earth was overkill...
Nah man thats his son he's gonna do what ever he can to put him on
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