comment #1

D.Z. says ...

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2008&wknd=52&p=.htm

I wonder if that's why Smith is gunning for Oldboy...

comment #2

Hallick says ...

I don't think Ali is remembered much at THIS point in time, much less 25 years hence. To judge by what's on television all the time, Men In Black and Independence Day are in the lead. In my heart, it's Six Degrees of Separation.

comment #3

Sabina E says ...

the Oldboy remake is going to be atrocious, I can feel it. Incest and extreme violence ain't gonna fly well with Americans, methink.

I think so far, Smith is best known for "I am Legend," because people wouldn't stop talking about that movie for months. And they're already planning a prequel, from what I've read on Slash Film. He is also beloved for MIB and Independence Day, but I don't think either film has a loyal fan following...

comment #4

BurmaShave says ...

How exactly is Fred Schepisi that much more major than Barry Sonnenfeld or Peter Berg? CRY IN THE DARK and ROXANNE are pretty solid, but I would say he very much fits your journeyman definition.

comment #5

nakedmanatee says ...

Those cheesy Fresh Prince reruns will probably play forever.

comment #6

ZayTonday says ...

You forgot Alex Proyas's "I, Robot".

The guy directed The Crow and Dark City.

comment #7

snoop says ...

I literally just had this conversation with my old man yesterday. Smith usually does solid films with solid people, but never anything truly memorable. I mean what are his best movies? Ali? Men in Black? I Am Legend? They're all pretty solid (and he's winning in all of them), but they are nothing that people will remember as memorable or classic in any way shape or form.

Meanwhile, people like Clooney, Damon, Pitt, and Cruise obviously seem concerned with building some sort of legacy, as they are constantly balancing the big movies with challenging projects spearheaded by talented people. It's why, no matter how crazy he is, I'll always love Cruise as an actor; he rarely panders to the masses with safe films. Same for Clooney, Damon, and Pitt -- they all leveraged popularity to do quality films. Hell, even their money movies are directed by Soderbergh, Greengrass, Spielberg and the like.

I guess that's the price of being the one true bankable movie star out there. It's funny, but for all the crap he's made, Adam Sandler, at this time, has more memorable movies than Smith. At least he's got Punch Drunk Love, Reign Over Me and Spanglish (which has aged well, Tea Leoni aside), not to mention the cult favorites he made earlier in his career.

So what I've boiled this down to is that, money aside, Smith won't be any more relevant than Adam Sandler when it's all said and done, despite an overall resume of decent efforts.

comment #8

actionman says ...

Ali is a masterpiece. How anyone could think otherwise will always mystify me.

comment #9

Chicago48 says ...

Actionman, I beg to differ. Ali was a mess. It was a recreation of the documentary, "When we were Kings". When you see the docu you see "Ali"....the best Ali movie/film was the one a young Terrence Howard starred in on ABC TV, and which goes unnoticed and overlooked,
"King of the World" get it on DVD...Howard does a much more convincing portrayal.

As for Smith, I will always remember the haunting "Happyness" and "Legend". Normally I wouldn't pay to see Smith in anything because I see him as a rapper/celeb, but he had me with those two movies. I also enjoyed Hitch....that's another overlooked movie that made a lot of money.

comment #10

BurmaShave says ...

Plus, regardless of quality, Will Smith is the first African American movie-star of his level. Poitier and Washington are obviously much better actors but they never really quite overcame that certain barrier black stars have both here and especially overseas. And sooner or later Will Smith will win his Oscar for playing a retarded slave as Kit Ramsey would say. He'll be remembered for sure.

comment #11

alynch says ...

I'd put Schepisi into the journeyman category and replace him with Proyas. I, Robot is Proyas's worst film, but he's still a true visionary.

comment #12

Sabina E says ...

oh yes. the Pursuit of Happyness, that was the first movie where Smith's acting really shone through.

I agree with most people here, "Ali" is not a memorable enough film.

comment #13

Bilge says ...

I think Gabriele Muccino is getting a bum rap here. I'm sure SEVEN POUNDS is as awful as they say, but Muccino's films in Italy were magnificent, and THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS is actually quite good, too.

Also, does it matter here that Will Smith almost made a movie with Jonathan Demme some years ago?

comment #14

Rothchild says ...

He's the biggest movie star in the world, and that's some inaccurate and cold shit to say about Sonnenfeld and Berg.

comment #15

Joel says ...

I think Smith should be working with better directors. It would be nice to see Smith work with Mann again. However, I don't think the clock is really ticking on Smith. Seven Pounds may have fallen short, but the guy is still a cash cow.

comment #16

lipranzer says ...

"How exactly is Fred Schepisi that much more major than Barry Sonnenfeld or Peter Berg? CRY IN THE DARK and ROXANNE are pretty solid, but I would say he very much fits your journeyman definition."

I think those two are more than "just solid," and I would also say Schepisi should be remembered for THE CHANT OF JIMMY BLACKSMITH, THE RUSSIA HOUSE, LAST ORDERS, and for TV, EMPIRE FALLS.

I do agree Barry Sonnenfeld, at one time, deserved being known as more than a journeyman director. The first MEN IN BLACK movie was pretty good, as were the two ADDAMS FAMILY movies, and I also loved his work on GET SHORTY. And while I have liked the Coen Brothers through thick and thin, there's something about the films Sonnenfeld shot for them that made them stick out.

comment #17

lipranzer says ...

Oh, and count me in among those who think ALI is still Smith's best film.And I also liked PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS a lot. I do agree he needs to think about not taking roles just to suit his "image".

comment #18

Ethan says ...

Wait, are you trying to tell me that Roland Emmerich isn't a visionary?

comment #19

Ray says ...

Man oh man, Jeff ... you sure do hate that Will Smith, don't ya?? Did he cum in your Cheerios at some point?

comment #20

BurmaShave says ...

After tying on a few watching the Chargers game, here's my pitch: Michael Mann directing Will Smith in a Sam Cooke bio-pic.

comment #21

Sabina E says ...

I don't think from the sound of this post, Jeff hates Will Smith. He's only speaking the truth about the state of Smith's legacy.

we can all acknowledge that Will Smith is a big movie star... but in 20, 30 years, what movies will he be best known? I honestly think that NONE of his films have any loyal cult fan followings.

for instance, even though Brad Pitt has done a lot of excellent, A-list memorable films, he will probably always be best known for the Fight Club. The Fight Club has a huge cult following. but Smith's movies don't.

comment #22

BurmaShave says ...

DeafBrown are you new? Wells hates Will Smith the way 50 Cent loves girls the way fat kids love cake.

comment #23

p.Vice says ...

Burma, after Collateral and Miami Vice I think your pitch would wind up being Jackpot 2.

comment #24

LexG says ...

I don't think Smith's director track record is quite as dire as Jeff suggests: Berg and Muccino are fairly young in terms of Hollywood directing careers, and Berg's about where Tony Scott was when Cruise worked with him.

Also, love him or hate him, Emmerich *is* a pretty A-list director, even if he's the "B" version of Bay or the Scotts and the "C" version of Spielberg.

But the "choose good directors" rule IS important; Think of Burt vs. Clint in the '70s, or Sly vs Arnold in the '80s. All HUGE, HUUUUGE stars, and *I* still love all four guys, but look at the directorial chooses and whose films have best stood the test of time.

Clint and Burt were neck and neck through their back-and-forth years of vying for #1 movie star. But Clint repeatedly worked with Siegel while honing his own immeasurable directorial chops, mixing in strong new collaborators like Cimino and Richard Tuggle; Not that Burt's Hal Needham flicks aren't fun, but it's telling that the films we wanna remember him for today are directed by Boorman and Pakula, not the journeymen who helmed some of the many throwaway star vehicles.

And Arnold always would seek out the cutting-edge guys-- Verhoeven, Cameron, Milius, McTiernan. Those films are practically timeless, barely even dated. Stallone was and IS a great movie star, but so, so few great directors, and usually just workmen who could easily be eclipsed by his star power; Even some of Sly's biggest and best were helmed by the not-exactly-marquee-recognizable Malmuth, Golan, Flynn, MacDonald, Cosmatos.

comment #25

lawnorder says ...

I think PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS is his best. Acting doesn't get much better than that. I don't know why people bag on that film. I would say I AM LEGEND is one of his worst.

comment #26

ZayTonday says ...

People bag on Pursuit of Happyness for the same reason they're bagging on Seven Pounds. Will wants you to think it's actually him doing the stuff he does on screen and he wants you to think he is a saint. Same as Tom Cruise.

comment #27

Dan Revill says ...

Will Smith will probably never be anyone's favourite actor, but I think he will be more remembered for his beautiful misses, like Seven Pounds and his blockbusters, like ID4 and MIB than he will for Ali or even Happyness.

And yes, I do think that Seven Pounds is a miss, since it really doesn't add up - but there is some awesome acting in there, and even though I wouldn't go watch it in a theater again, I think it's something I'd like to rent when it comes out. Heck, I may even buy it, just to spite the haters. It won't crack my top ten, but it was more interesting than Frost/Nixon, which I did enjoy as entertainment.

comment #28

Mark G. says ...

Who knows how things will turn out... Maybe he will be remembered in 25 years as the father of Jaden Smith...

comment #29

LexG says ...

As for saying "the clock is ticking," how depressing is it (for me, not for you necessarily), that Smith is ESSENTIALLY THE SAME AGE AS ME, and has been a public figure FOR TWENTY YEARS, and has been making movies for FIFTEEN YEARS.

Meanwhile, I'm 36, I've been in L.A. for THIRTEEN YEARS, I don't have even have a SAG card, I've gone on like five auditions that whole time, and I sit in a Valley postproduction facility tweaking time codes and color-correcting shit, STILL clinging on to some pathetic hope that SOMEDAY I'll be a "star."

Compared to that, Smith is GOD.

Obviously that's being indulgent, but in show biz terms, there comes a time when you realize every THIRTYSOMETHING in Hollywood has been on the scene SINCE THE MID-1980s, and so if you don't get into this business by age 19, you're essentially fucked.

comment #30

D.Z. says ...

Deafbrown: You never know. People actually believed that Infernal Affairs remake from Marty was good.

Zay: Yeah, it was a great remake of the Animatrix.

lipranzer: Agree with you on the first Addams flick-hated the second one.

Lex: You never know. Downey's done pretty well for himself lately. And Arnie was around your age when he finally got noticed in the 80s.

comment #31

LexG says ...

D.Z., thanks for the encouragement, but come on, Downey -- thanks to his FILMMAKER DAD -- has screen credits practically FROM BIRTH. In 1970 and 1972.

Dude was probably SAG-elligible from the jump.

No matter what his horrific downfalls, he sure as fuck never had to clock in on the 10am to 8pm telecine shift at some hellhole Valley post-post-post-production facility.

Once you go the workaday douche route, it's damn near impossible to get at it creatively; You have conceded failure.

Again, compared to being a 50k posthouse fuck for a decade-plus, working with Alex Proyas is the impossible dream.

Seriously, fucking EXTRA WORK is supernatural for me at this point in life.

comment #32

Howlingman says ...

Harrison Ford was 35 when Star Wars Hit, LexG. I'm 35 and have been earning a pretty good living as a writer for 10 years now -- been produced multiple times, arbitrated out of credit on some big shows -- but it's a marathon, not a sprint and I'm in a good place, career-wise. Just don't let the bastards grind you down.

comment #33

LeroyBrown says ...

Anyone who thinks Fred Schepisi is a "journeyman" must not have seen many of his movies. Putting the director who made The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith in the same category with Peter Berg is just ignorant.

comment #34

actionman says ...

I love Enemy of the State.

comment #35

Movie Watcher says ...

Will Smith should try to work with Speilberg. Something like war of the worlds, along those lines, might be good. Smith's movies usually do pretty good. He has years to go in his career, and I can see him winning an oscar one day. Does he have the clout to OK a move and it gets done? I don't know.

comment #36

TheJERMSguy says ...

Does he even have his next project picked? I know Oldboy's in development but it's not officially greenlit yet. Smith really should see what Scorsese, Demme, Mann, et al, have going on right now.

comment #37

nola says ...

Stay strong Lex. Howlingman is right.

comment #38

irvingberlinalexanderputz says ...

50 years from now, Will Smith will be best known for his role in Jersey Girl. You heard it hear first.

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