The premiere of ‘Towards Freedom’, a new film starring Will Smith, makes us think of the last redemption in Hollywood. Has he been forgiven yet?
Will Smith’s redemption began before his hand even stopped hurting after slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars. Her embarrassing speech was already a part of her and, although she rested by letting herself go at the after party, her interventions since then have been guided by a single objective: return to the light, the trail of the american hero.
We review the steps of his hasty ascent from hell.
The chop from a neighborhood called Bel-Air
Let’s try to order the events:
In the 2016 Oscars, Will Smith was not nominated for his role in ‘The Truth Hurts’ (Peter Landesman, 2015), role that he had played exclusively to win the Oscar. Annoyed by the absence of her husband (who had already been nominated on two previous occasions), Jada Pinkett Smith called for the boycott taking advantage of the -otherwise existing- racism: “At the Oscars, people of color are always welcome to hand out awards, even to entertain, but we are rarely recognized for our artistic achievements. Should people of color refrain from participating? People can only treat us the way we let them.”
“Hey Chris,” he said, addressing the presenter of that year’s gala, Chris Rock. “I won’t be at the Academy Awards and I won’t see them, but I can’t think of a better man to do this year’s job than you, my friend.“.
At the ceremony, in addition to speaking out about the Academy’s racist issue, Rock did not miss an opportunity to point out to his fellow non-nominees that he had been curiously offended that year: “Is Jada going to boycott the Oscars? Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited“.
Two years later, in 2018, the actress confessed to having suffered a lot from her hair loss: “One day I was in the shower, I found handfuls of hair on my hands and I thought: ‘oh my God, am I going bald? ‘ My hair has been a big part of me. Taking care of my hair has always been a beautiful ritual.”
And, finally, we come to the 2022 gala, a night in which a fabulous Jada Pinkett Smith looks powerful and hairless alongside a weary Will Smith, nominated for an easy role in the even more simplistic ‘The Williams Method’. The winner is known but, despite this, the tension at that moment is unbearable. His obsession with the statuette is excessive and he has spent years living in an exhausting promotion and public exhibition that has led him to that moment. There are a few minutes left before they say his name and, between awards, Chris Rock appears to do a comedy segment and, spotting Pinkett Smith, jokes: “Jada, I can’t wait to see ‘Lieutenant O’Neil 2’“.
Will is first seen laughing and his wife pouting, the camera cuts back to Rock, and then everything spirals out of control as Smith walks up on stage, slaps the comedian and returns to his seat. “Get my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth“, he yells from his seat on two occasions. “Man, it was just a joke from ‘Lieutenant O’Neil'”, answers a stunned Rock who, as best he can, continues his segment.
Soon after, Smith won the Oscar and gave one of the most embarrassing speeches in living memory.
Repercussions of an industry in shock
After starring in one of the most awkward moments in Oscar history, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided that the actor would not be able to attend the ceremony for the next 10 years due to “harmful behavior” he displayed that night.
“This was an opportunity for us to set an example for our guests, viewers and our Academy family around the world, and we fell short, unprepared for something unprecedented,” they acknowledged in an open letter published after a meeting. of bosses.
Smith issued a statement to announce that he had resigned as a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. “The list of people I have hurt is long and includes Chris, his family, many of my dear friends and loved ones, everyone in attendance and global audiences in their homes,” she said.
And, in addition to thousands of memes, here are the real repercussions.
The return of Wild Wild Will
“What you have come to understand as ‘Will Smith,’ the alien-killing rapper, the larger-than-life movie star, is for the most part a build, a carefully crafted and polished character, designed to protect myself”, explains Smith in his memoirs published under the title ‘Will’.
The classic “was a character” that so many content creators have starred in mixed with some emotional shield and ready, ready to go back to the old ways.
“He was nice to everyone on set.“, points Antoine Fuqua, director of ‘To Freedom’, in an interview with Vanity Fair. “Will was running around and hugging and shaking hands with everyone. We had about 300 extras and military and marines. We had to stop Will from doing that because of COVID.”
“It is funny, we had certain extras that were the corpses in the graves and he was going to give them money for lying there in that heat of more than 38 degrees“, he points out before touching the subject in which we are all thinking. “I saw a different person from that moment.”
“I have nothing but amazing things to say about Will Smith, really,” says Fuqua. “You can ask anyone who’s worked on the movie, they’ll tell you the same thing. He’s the nicest person I’ve ever met.”
“You may wonder, what have I learned? That we have to be nice to each other, man,” says Smith. “You know, it’s hard. And I guess the most painful thing for me is that I took what was hard and made it hard for other people. You know, I understood what they say about hurt people hurting people.”
We don’t know if ‘Towards Freedom’ will manage to become one of Will Smith’s best films, but to begin to calm the controversy after the slap, on Apple TV + they have bet heavily on redemption.
‘To Freedom’, now available on Apple TV+, is written by Bill Collage (‘The Divergent Series: Loyal’, ‘Assassin’s Creed’), has been directed by Antoine Fuqua, the genius who conquered us in video stores thanks to ‘Replacement Assassins’ (1998) and who has been able to give us the odd gem like ‘Training Day’ (2001), ‘The Equalizer 2’ (2018).
And here nothing has happened.
Source: Fotogramas
Ashley Fitzgerald is a journalist and author at Gossipify, known for her coverage of famous people and their lives. She writes about a wide range of topics, including celebrities, influencers, social media stars, and public figures. Her articles are known for their in-depth analysis and unique perspective. She is respected for her ability to keep readers up to date with the latest news and trends of the famous people.
