Netflix has hit pause on its new film Fast and Loose which already lost a director in the week leading up to the Oscars.
Will Smith’s outburst at the Oscars has dominated the news since the gala aired on Sunday, March 27th. The actor infamously took offence to presenter Chris Rock’s joke aimed at his wife Jada Pinkett-Smith.
Rock joked about Pinkett-Smith’s baldness by saying “G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see it.” Pinkett-Smith has been open about her struggle with alopecia, which causes hair loss. Smith then walked up to the stage and hit Rock with an open hand before returning to his seat and shouting at Rock to “keep my wife’s name out of your f*cking mouth!”
Although a tearful Smith addressed the incident in his acceptance speech for Best Actor for his performance in King Richard and later released a statement regarding the incident as well as resigning from the Academy, it seems that studios are now backing away from the actor.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix isn’t going forward with Fast and Loose, in which Smith was supposed to play a crime boss struggling with memory loss following an attack. The project seems to have had a string of bad luck as it was supposed to be helmed by David Leitch of Atomic Blonde fame, who gave up Fast and Loose in favour of Universal’s Fall Guy, starring Ryan Gosling.
Smith had also finished filming Emancipation for AppleTV+. The film is currently in post-production, but curiously doesn’t have a release date and it’s uncertain whether it will get one any time soon after Smith’s behaviour at the most prestigious awards ceremony of the industry.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, production on Sony’s Bad Boys 4 will now also come to a halt. Smith was also announced to be reprising his role as Daryl Ward in the sequel to Netflix’s 2017 actioner Bright. Smith described his actions as “shocking, painful and inexcusable” as he released a statement for resigning from the Academy and said he was “heartbroken.” It remains to be seen if Smith’s career can recover from such a disastrous night.
