Will Smith as soon as seemed a $10 million paycheck lifeless within the eye and mentioned nope. As an alternative, he signed up for a $300K indie flick that, on the time, sounded extra like of venture than a glow-up (by way of Cheat Sheet). However that one transfer? It kickstarted his run to blockbuster royalty.
Within the early ’90s, Smith wasn’t the megastar he later grew to become. He was nonetheless the Recent Prince, dipping his toes into movies. That’s when his supervisor, James Lassiter, got here to him with a juicy provide, co-starring in 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag. The studio was able to drop $10 million in Smith’s lap. Tempting? Completely.
However Lassiter wasn’t bought. He’d learn the script 5 instances, making an attempt to persuade himself it was an excellent transfer. It wasn’t. The story, a couple of mobster whose bag of decapitated heads will get swapped at an airport, felt off-brand for somebody aiming to be the following Tom Cruise. Lassiter instructed Smith to skip it, reminding him that Cruise would’ve handed with out blinking.
Lassiter even gave up a $1.5 million fee simply to maintain Will Smith away from a profession detour. 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag hit theaters in 1997 with Joe Pesci within the lead and David Spade because the clueless traveler. It bombed, barely clearing $3.6 million. Smith dodged a bullet, and it wasn’t luck. It was technique.
As an alternative, he went with Six Levels of Separation, a small-budget movie with a big effect. Smith performed a fast-talking con man pretending to be Sidney Poitier’s son. The movie didn’t set the field workplace on fireplace, however critics took discover. Extra importantly, Hollywood did, too.
Lassiter noticed the potential. He knew Will Smith wanted to shake the rapper picture and get taken severely. He framed the indie movie as a credibility play, working alongside Stockard Channing, Donald Sutherland, and Sir Ian McKellen would make folks see Smith in an entire new mild.
And it labored. The efficiency turned heads. Two years later, he was operating from explosions in Unhealthy Boys, combating aliens in Independence Day, and shortly, rocking the shades in Males in Black. That $300K function? It didn’t simply earn him respect. It launched a billion-dollar profession. Reflecting on the selection, Smith referred to as the script for 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag “like a f***ed up love letter.” And yeah, he learn it, however he left it unopened.
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