![]() ![]() He cited Richard Williams as “a fierce defender of his family”. When he went up to collect his award, Smith clearly did not give the speech he’d originally planned. I think he did a lot of that work in his speech.”ĭuring the commercial break between the actor slapping Rock and his acceptance speech, Smith’s publicist Meredith O Sullivan was spotted in discussion with Smith at his table, as was Denzel Washington. ![]() And then you have to behave in such a way that people don’t believe it’s going to happen again. You have to apologise to those you’ve hurt. There is a crisis-management protocol to situations like this, says Bumble Ward, another seasoned film publicist. I think probably Will Smith can surface – if he does the right thing, in the right time.” You have to show proper contrition … then behave in such a way that people don’t believe it’s going to happen again “I think it’s just a question of who you are, what your position is, and how you’re thought of. “I don’t think it’s a question of size,” says McDonald. Harvey Weinstein was, after all, considered a fixture of the movie industry. “Not in this day and age.” In recent years, entertainment figures once considered unassailable have been swiftly dethroned, McDonald points out, not least by the #MeToo movement. “I don’t think anybody’s too big to fail,” says film publicist Charles McDonald. Smith’s projects in the pipeline include slavery thriller Emancipation, for which Apple paid $120m for the rights, a sequel to the Netflix sci-fi Bright, a travel series with National Geographic and Bad Boys 4. He is one of the few actors whose name can open a movie and usually guarantee a $100m box office (King Richard has performed far below that, but then it was released simultaneously on HBO Max). ![]() He has ruled Hollywood for over 30 years, his films grossing over $9 billion at the box office, and he has an estimated net worth of at least $350 million. Similarly, in the early 1990s, Smith drew up a plan to become the biggest movie star in the world, analysing box-office numbers and movie formulas. Richard Williams, the character Smith played in King Richard, drew up an 85-page plan for how to turn his daughters Venus and Serena into tennis champs. Winner … Smith in King Richard, with Demi Singleton and Saniyya Sidney as Serena and Venus Williams. Will Smith is in a different league, arguably one of his own. Affleck denied the accusations but his reputation has never really recovered. In 2017, Casey Affleck went through the similarly awkward motions of accepting best actor Oscar, for Manchester By the Sea, even as allegations of earlier sexual harassment resurfaced, turning what should have been a huge career bounce into a damaging trial by public opinion. The unique nature of both the incident and the actor have us grasping for precedent. Smith could spend the rest of his life looking back on Sunday night as the best of times and the worst, but which one will prevail? Is Smith big enough to survive such a jarring incident – or is the Fresh Prince past his sell-by date? His win as best actor for King Richard ought to have been the cherry on top of one of the most successful film careers in history – except Smith himself had already sabotaged the moment, the night, and possibly his future when he got up on stage 40 minutes earlier and slapped Chris Rock. I t is not often an actor experiences both the high point and the low point of their careers on the same night, but you can always trust Will Smith to push the boundaries of movie stardom.
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