Will Smith's Calendar Just Keeps Clearing Itself
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Nearly a month after the slap heard ‘round the world, dominos are still falling for Will Smith. After his ousting from the Academy, his decade-long ban from the Oscars, and the indefinite stalling of his various film projects, the consequences keep on snowballing for Smith. Now, two more of his movies are in jeopardy, with one permanently canned.
Netflix has officially canceled the development of Bright 2, a sequel to Bright, the 2017 film directed by David Ayer, starring Smith. Smith headed up the film as an LAPD detective living and working in a version of Los Angeles where humans coexist with magical creatures, and was set to reprise his role in the sequel. The sequel was announced in January 2018, just a month after the film’s release, and has been in development ever since. Now, it’s no longer moving forward, and sources tell Bloomberg that the cancelation is “unrelated” to the slap. A movie that’s spent years in development hell, suddenly and conveniently canceled less than a month after the star is embroiled in a global controversy? Come on, Netflix; we weren’t born yesterday.
Meanwhile, National Geographic has delayed development on Pole to Pole, a series that was meant to feature Smith as he visits both the North and South Poles. This will be Smith’s third collaboration with National Geographic following One Strange Rock and Welcome to Earth. The series was set to begin shooting in three weeks, but production has now been pushed back to the fall. According to Bloomberg, the delay is related to Smith’s Oscars controversy.
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But what do lost income and lost visibility mean to a mega-wealthy, mega-famous celebrity? Smith will get by just fine with his $350 million net worth, and clearly, the world isn’t going to stop talking about him anytime soon. But if there’s one consequence Smith can’t insulate himself from, it’s an angry mother.
Rose Rock, Chris Rock’s mother, has spoken out in an interview with South Carolina’s WIS-TV. “When Will slapped Chris, he slapped all of us,” she said. “But he really slapped me. When you hurt my child, you hurt me. His people wrote up a piece and said, ‘I apologize to Chris Rock,’ but something like that is personal. You reach out.”
Maybe in Smith’s newfound free time, he can pay Mrs. Rock a visit, and put that Oscar-winning energy toward an awards-worthy apology. But for now, he appears to be using the tried and true "run from my problems" strategy. We've all been there, man. The difference is, celebrities can run from their problems by traveling halfway around the world like Smith has done. This past weekend, he surfaced at a private airport in Mumbai, where he was met with paparazzi and posed for pictures with fans. A source tells People that Smith has traveled to India for spiritual purposes, to practice yoga and meditation.
In his post-Oscars apology, Smith said, "Change takes time, and I am committed to doing the work to ensure that I never again allow violence to overtake reason." Change also, apparently, takes a lot of yoga.
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