Is the age of ‘Will Smith: Serious Dramatic Actor’ already over?
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(Credits: Far Out / Warner Bros. Pictures)
There comes a stage in every actor’s career when they’ll be struck with the realisation their days as a marketable blockbuster asset are drawing to a close, but Will Smith appears content to see how much gas he’s got left in that particular tank for the time being.
Nobody can outrun the ravages of time, and there are only a finite number of action cinema’s elder statesmen who can still deliver the goods. Inevitably, Denzel Washington and Tom Cruise are among them as the box office numbers continue to show, but the same can’t exactly be said about the rest.
Liam Neeson’s late-stage renaissance is coasting on fumes after a string of flops, Sylvester Stallone’s fourth Expendables was an utter disaster, and Arnold Schwarzenegger hasn’t appeared in a movie since 2019 after deciding to take his talents to the small screen with Netflix’s FUBAR. Recent events indicate Smith has still got it, but will that come at the expense of what was shaping up to be a promising evolution?
The former ‘Fresh Prince’ was always going to make his post-slap return in the safest way possible, and Bad Boys: Ride or Die was about as safe as it gets. The franchise has been popular for three decades, the previous instalment was its best-reviewed and highest-grossing entry yet, and the action hero persona is the one that made him one of the biggest stars of his generation to begin with.
In the grand scheme of things, the after-effects of busting Chris Rock around the chops have been negligible, but it could realistically dissuade Smith from stretching his wings for the foreseeable future. The easiest wins come from running and gunning, with that desire for self-preservation and safeguarding seemingly dictating his upcoming trajectory.
The latter may have been released after the slap despite being shot beforehand, but the double whammy of his ‘Best Actor’ winning turn in King Richard and Antoine Fuqua’s dramatic thriller Emancipation was the first time Smith had appeared in back-to-back dramatic productions since the turn of the millennium, when he followed up The Legend of Bagger Vance with his first Oscar-nominated turn in Ali.
In between those two points he became the biggest draw of his era and one of Hollywood’s most popular stars, but the upcoming list of titles he’s attached to hints that it could be a while before he does something similar again. Now in his mid-50s, the opportunity was there for Smith to lean into his underrated dramatic range and showcase his chops to an extent like never before, with that Oscar win serving as the catalyst.
Instead, what he did right before winning it looks as though it’s steering him back into his comfort zone. There’s almost certainly going to be a fifth Bad Boys, while Smith also has militaristic action thriller Sugar Bandits on the docket, and recently signed up to lead high concept sci-fi Resistor.
He’s getting back into the franchise business with the I Am Legend sequel, Netflix reignited development on Fast and Loose in 2023 after initially hitting the pause button the year prior, while Kevin Hart remains committed to co-starring alongside him in a Planes, Trains and Automobiles reboot that many are fearing my befoul an old classic.
If even half of those projects end up happening he’ll be occupied for a good few years to come, which carries the potential of ending the age of ‘Will Smith: Serious Dramatic Actor’ before it even had a chance to take flight. Which is a shame, because, despite plenty of naysayers, the man’s a hell of a serious actor, akin to someone like Robin Williams before him, and he could comfortably shift his career in a completely different direction if he wanted to. Alas, the slap seems to have stung his psyche more than Rock’s cheek.
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