Will Smith Movies: The Forgotten Roles

Over the course an illustrious career, Will Smith has embedded himself into the Hollywood pantheon with a series iconic performances. 30 years after he burst into the public consciousness our speakers, he and DJ Jazzy Jeff’s exuberant, radio-appeasing rap accounts for just one component his overarching legacy these days. For less incorrigible actors, the role– and remuneration– The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air would’ve allowed them to rest on their laurels but if anything, Smith has upped the intensity his workload on a year-by-year basis.

Initially conceived as a way to pay f his exorbitant tax bills, an onscreen role that got the IRS f his back soon morphed into a lifelong vocation for the Philly native and his bankable charisma would lead to countless high-powered roles in the years to come. Yet for every Agent J, Detective Mike Lowry or Capt. Steven Hiller the United States Marine Corps, there are those characters that didn’t translate to the big screen as well as Will had hoped or ended up consigned to the wrong side his box fice record books. Poised to take theatres by storm with sequels to Bright and Bad Boys respectively, as well as undertaking the very unenble role trying to fill Robin Williams’ shoes in Aladdin, it’s worth gearing up for his return by looking at some his less lauded roles.

Where The Day Takes You

Flanked by an all-star cast that included Lara Flynn Boyle, Ricki Lake, Sean Astin, Balthazar Getty and Alyssa Milano, 1992’s Where The Day Takes You marked Will Smith’s inaugural appearance on the big screen. Directed by Marc Rocco, the film follows the plights a group teenage ne’er-do-wells and runaways on the streets LA as they make their way through a maze drugs, prostitution and vagrancy. In a striking contrast to the action heroes that he’d soon embody, Will is tasked with the portrayal Manny, a wisecracking paraplegic who has to endure a brutal beating from Peter Dobson’s Tommy Ray. A gritty precursor to future coming–age films such as Kids and Mid-90s, it has aged remarkably well for a film that was a box fice flop.

Six Degrees Separation

A year after he played a supporting role amid an ensemble Hollywood’s hotly tipped talent, Will would get his chance to strike out on his own with Six Degrees Of Separation. Adapted from the John Guare play the same name, the film sees Will play the role seasoned hustler that infiltrates the shallow ranks the New York intelligentsia by posing as the son Sidney Poitier. Through a series elaborate falsehoods, ‘Paul’ gains the trust two affluent but ultimately closeminded art dealers and sets the stage for a movie that addresses issues around race, sexuality, discrimination and the overarching humanity that should bind us all together.

Enemy Of The State

Due to his box fice acclaim, it’s not ten that the words ‘underrated’ and ‘Will Smith’ are reconcilable with one another. However, it’s a more than appropriate descriptor for his turn in 1998’s Enemy Of The State. Fresh from the first entry in the Men In Black series, the late Tony Scott’s tale a man in the wrong place at the wrong time reworked Smith as an average joe that had been led out his depth. Framed for a crime and an adulterous affair that he didn’t partake in, labor lawyer Robert Clayton Dean must scrape and claw to clear his name with any espionage skills at his disposal. A thrilling tale deception, underlying agendas and corruptive power surveillance, it’s a film that is ten left by the wayside when conversation turns to outstanding thrillers and, in many ways, forewarned the NSA whistleblowing scandals to come.

The Legend Of Bagger Vance

Derived from Hindu scripture in the Bhagavad Gita, Will Smith and Matt Damon took the leap into the realm parable in The Legend Of Bagger Vance. Derided by some as schmaltzy and overly sentimental, Robert Redford’s take on the Steven Pressfield novel struck a discordant note for many but Will’s performance is captivating nonetheless. Acting as a spiritual guru for a man at the end his tether, Smith’s take on the mythical figure wasn’t too much a stretch considering the wholesomeness that was ascribed to him but he deserves credit for it nonetheless.

Jersey Girl

Not content to share a screen with just one writer the Oscar-winning Good Will Hunting, Will Smith has also dispensed life advice to Ben Affleck in Jersey Girl. As opposed to playing a messianic being, his cameo in this Kevin Smith flick sees Will play himself in a uniquely meta moment. Perched beside Affleck’s Ollie in a waiting room at a time personal crises, the man that once took umbrage with the fact that ‘Parents Just Don’t Understand’ imparts some words familial wisdom to the music promoter. Complete with a touching remark about “how it takes everything I’ve got” to leave his family behind for the day, it’s a role that is pivotal importance to the story and the dialogue could’ve easily been culled from Will’s real life. Not to mention it features the comedic relief Will referring to himself as “hung, like… It’s ridiculous.”

Seven Pounds

With a whopping budget an estimated $55,000,000, Seven Pounds had all the makings one those life-affirming Hollywood classics but never attained the widespread culture resonance that it clearly strived for. Labeled a masterpiece by some and a damp squib by others, the film follows Smith as IRS agent Ben Thomas as he attempts to change lives and make reparations for a tragedy in his past. Cast as the mysterious benefactor, Smith does an excellent job conveying the film’s heavy subject matter with skill and avoids the ham-fisted pitfalls that his character could’ve fell into in the hands a less capable man.

A Winter’s Tale 

Hailed as one the most endearing figures in Hollywood, Will’s seamless transition into a YouTuber tells you just how much people gravitate towards him as a media personality let alone an actor. For that reason alone, his portrayal an entirely more malevolent figure in A Winter’s Tale is worth a watch. Patchily received to say the very least, the adapted screenplay Mark Helprin’s magnum opus was listed as one those ‘unfilmable’ projects for countless years before Akiva Goldsman decided to step up to the plate. Boasting a 14% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Will’s portrayal a brooding and pragmatic Lucifer is not only the highlight the film but also marks one the few times that he’s ever ventured in the territory the antagonist.

After Earth

Whie many these films are unfairly maligned or overlooked, 2013’s After Earth is one film that Will and Jaden Smith would be more than willing to resign to the depths the past. Conceived as a sci-fi epic, it follows the aftermath Nova Prime’s Cypher and Katai’s unceremonious arrival on the remains their ancestral home planet. Crafted by M Night Shymalan during his career’s emphatic downturn, many believed the film to be thinly-veiled scientology propaganda and Smith has since labeled the debacle as “the most painful failure my career.” Released around the same time as his father’s cancer diagnosis, Smith came out the other side with a new perspective on the world around him:

“That Monday started the new phase my life, a new concept: Only love is going to fill that hole. You can’t win enough, you can’t have enough money, you can’t succeed enough. There is not enough. The only thing that will ever satiate that existential thirst is love. And I just remember that day I made the shift from wanting to be a winner to wanting to have the most powerful, deep and beautiful relationships I could possibly have.”