The first Bad Boys movie, airing Thursday night on VOX, launched Will Smith’s big action career. However, it almost didn’t happen at all.
After his comedy beginnings in The Prince of Bel-Air, Will Smith developed into an action star in the 90s. The foundation for this was laid by Michael Bay’s smash hit Bad Boys – Harte Jungs, which airs on Thursday nights at 22:00 on VOX.
Without this film, the star’s subsequent action successes such as Independence Day and Enemy of the State No. 1 would probably never have come about. Yet Smith’s Bad Boys breakthrough almost didn’t happen at all.
Will Smith was considered a risk before Bad Boys
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly director Michael Bay talked about how the studio had strong doubts at the time about casting two African-American leads for a major action blockbuster:
“Sony didn’t believe in the film because two African-American actors don’t sell overseas. They had no faith in it. I saw James Cameron’s True Lies and I thought, ‘Oh my God, this guy has so much money. I only have nine million dollars.’ And they literally cut me off. They cut off the electricity. That’s how rude they were on this film. “
The casting paid off in the end. Bad Boys grossed $65 million worldwide on a budget of $19 million and became a success.
While it spawned a franchise with two sequels to date, the rest of Will Smith’s action career has long been history. A fourth Bad Boys film has also already been announced for 2024.
