“This means so much to me Will”: After Nearly Ending His Career With Oscar Slap, Will Smith Wins Actors’ Support With His Recent Comments
A few actors have a larger-than-life appeal in the public eye- either with their choice of projects or by the way they carry themselves, and Will Smith is undoubtedly one of them. The Academy Award recipient is one of the most bankable actors in Hollywood.
The 2022 Oscar Salpgate took a toll on the stardom of the King Richard actor. Will Smith was criticized for smacking the American comedian Chris Rock during the live ceremony of the Academy Awards. He is back in the spotlight for showing support for the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike.
Will Smith Breaks His Silence On The SAG-AFTRA and WGA Strikes
The Aladdin actor, Will Smith took to his Instagram and showed solidarity with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. His post mentioned the importance of both guilds-
“I wanna talk for a second about ACTING. As some of y’all might be heard, my guild, @SAGAFTRA is on strike along with our writer colleagues in the WGA. It’s a pivotal moment for our profession.”
The SAG-AFTRA Foundation even replied to the actor with-
“Thank you for your support, Will!”
While highlighting the importance of the strike, Will Smith recalled how far he has come in his three-decade-long acting career and even expressed his gratitude to his mentor, Aaron Speiser. His post read as-
“33 years into my career as an actor and there are still some days when I feel like I’m that kid from Philly who’s on borrowed time, even though I know I’ve been extraordinarily blessed and lucky to have worked as an actor all this time. It’s thanks to my friend, my teacher, and my mentor @aaronspeiser whom I fondly refer to as ‘coach’ that those days when I feel like I don’t belong are fewer and further between.”
In the picture, the Men In Black actor is seen posing with his students at The Screen Acting Studio, where Aaron Speiser works and also hosts Coach The Podcast. Will Smith further mentioned in his post-
“Coach invited me to acting class the other day and I met a group of our talented next generation of actors and they amazed and inspired me! I’m grateful to the coach for continuing to support these talented hopefuls in this art form that I love and have been lucky enough to work in for three decades of my life! Thanks, COACH!”
The WGA strike started on May 2nd, and the SAG-AFTRA from July 14, for negotiations with studios for fair pay parity contracts.
When Will Smith Almost Lost A Million Dollar Movie Because Of His Skin Color
During an interview with the media outlet The Hollywood Reporter, the writer-director duo Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich spoke about the amount of convincing that was required for Fox Studios to cast Will Smith in the 1996 film Independence Day. On the 25th anniversary of the movie, writer Dean Devlin revealed
“[Fox] said, ‘You cast a Black guy in this part, you’re going to kill foreign [box office]. Our argument was, ‘Well, the movie is about space aliens. It’s going to do fine foreign.’ It was a big war, and Roland really stood up for [Smith] – and we ultimately won that war.”
Roland Emmerich said-
“… We still hadn’t locked in Will and Jeff [Goldblum]. I put my foot down. Universal people are calling every day, so give me these two actors or I move over there. I don’t think it would have been a possibility [to actually move studios], but it was a great threat.”
The sequel to Will Smith’s 1996 movie Independence Day: Resurgence is currently available on Hotstar.
Source: Instagram
