Will Smith | The New York Observer

Casting the Candidates

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:36:37 -0400

With word yesterday that HBO optioned the yet-to-be-finished 2008 election account, Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime, by Time’s Mark Halperin and New York’s John Heilemann, it’s clear the network is looking to corner the market on waxwork political docudramas. Just last month they announced plans to make Peter Morgan’s The Special Relationship, the final film in his Tony Blair-trilogy, with Dennis Quaid and Julianne...

Die, Vampires, Die: It's Time To Bury The Bloodsucker Trend

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 08:00:00 -0400

Vampires don't really live forever—it just feels like they do. Lately, you can't turn on the TV, go to a bookstore, see a movie, or go to a high school without being besieged by vampires and their enchanted human enablers.

On March 25, Variety's Michael Schneider reported that Ian Somerhalder, who played the overly-tweased stipple-bearded Boone on Lost, had been tapped to co-star in an ABC pilot called The Vampire Diaries. According to Variety, the...

Opening this Weekend: Smith's Sleeper, Mickey's Return, Kate's....Mistake?

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 08:50:07 -0500

Twelve measly days separate us from 2009. Between now and December 31st, a whopping sixteen movies will hit theaters, all of varying pedigree and expectation. Couple those releases with the ever-expanding theater counts for some of the more critically acclaimed films from the last few weeks (Doubt, Gran Torino, Frost/Nixon, etc.), and you've got a logjam. Even if you saw three movies a day, from now until New Year's Eve, you probably still couldn't...

Jon Hamm, Sci-Fi Geek!

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 11:01:13 -0500

Last night the Daily Transom ventured out to the premiere of The Day The Earth Stood Still--a remake of the 1951 science fiction classic about an alien who comes to earth to warn the human race about invading super robots--starring Keanu Reeves (as the alien Klaatu), Jennifer Connelly, and Kathy Bates.

"You have to respect the original--and you have to respect the fans of the original that expect certain things--but you've also got to...

I Am Legend Prequel Actually a Sequel? Huh?!

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 08:51:33 -0500

Like our esteemed colleague, we were completely freaked out by I Am Legend. While it wasn't really a good movie, it's realistically unrealistic version of post-apocalyptic Manhattan--Stray lions! Six dollar-per-gallon gas prices! CGI vampires!--scared the bejesus out of us. Seriously, we still have the occasional nightmare revolving around the "last man on earth" scenario. Sadly for our sleep patterns, it was no surprise when Warner Brothers announced in September that they'd be moving ahead...

Will Smith's Kid Is The Next Karate Kid!

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:25:55 -0500

Variety is reporting some pretty fascinating news today: Jaden Smith, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s precocious spawn (seen with his dad in The Pursuit of Happyness) has been tapped to be the next Ralph Macchio (or Hilary Swank!) when the Karate Kid franchise gets new life. Jerry Weintraub, an original producer, is on board as a producer together with Will Smith. Jaden is going to be next seen in next month’s Keanu Reeves-starring...

What's the Secret of Seven Pounds?

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:12:25 -0500

Despite an incredibly mawkish trailer, we're highly intrigued by Will Smith's latest sure-to-be hit, Seven Pounds. What is the deal with this movie? A month away from its release and we know scarcely anything about it. We were hoping for some answers when Mr. Smith and his co-star Rosario Dawson appeared with Oprah Winfrey late last week, but we had no such luck. The trio discussed Seven Pounds in very superficial terms, hailing it...

Is Seven Pounds The New Pay It Forward?

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:26:41 -0400

We learned a long time ago to always, always take Will Smith seriously. The man can do anything - fight aliens or zombies, be Ali, love German shepherds, etc. Mr. Smith is on a winning streak: last year I Am Legend made a truckload of money. Ditto last summer's Hancock (which we maintain was secretly Jason Bateman's movie, but whatever). But now we've come upon the trailer for actor's next film, Seven Pounds. The...

Look Out New York! I Am Legend Returns

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:50:51 -0400

Uh oh. Last December we wrote about how much I am Legend freaked us out (seriously, we think the workout our heart got during the film qualifies as aerobic activity). The movie, based on the 1954 Richard Matheson book and starring Will Smith, laid out a vision of New York City almost completely wiped out of humans after the spread of a virus (thanks a lot, Emma Thompson!). The movie left us wondering if...

Single Person's Movie: Bad Boys

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:12:35 -0400

It's 2 AM and you awake with a jerk, alone in your fully-lit apartment and still on the couch. On TV, the credits of some movie you've already seen a billion times are scrolling by. It feels like rock bottom. And we know, because we're just like you: single.

Need a movie to keep you company until you literally can't keep your eyes open? Join us tonight...

Terrence Howard on Men's Fashion: Zipper Cuffs, Custom-Made Suits, and More Color, Please!

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:34:56 -0400

When Terrence Howard, the brown-eyed actor with the pencil mustache, arrived Wednesday evening at the subterranean level of Bloomingdale’s for the “Beat of Chic” party thrown by Vanity Fair, he was positively giddy. Thrilled, actually. Tonight he would perform songs from his debut album, Shine Through It, a combination of jazz and soft rock that he recorded with a group of musicians (subtly) called The Band of Kings.

"They greeted me as...

Manhattan Weekend Box Office: Sex and the City vs. The Wackness on New York Screens

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:27:23 -0400

Things went much as predicted this Fourth of July weekend. New Yorkers fell in love with a homeless wino with a penchant for busting road signs and throwing live whales into the ocean. Hancock landed on top of Manhattan's sales charts with an $850,956 box office showing. It was the same story nationally. Sony's film scored $66 million in ticket sales, putting it way ahead of Wall-E ($33.4 million) and Wanted ($20.6 million). Since...

Administrators at Will Smith's School Say It Doesn't Teach Scientology

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:40:09 -0400

Despite employing teachers who are members of the Church of Scientology and using teaching methods developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, administrators at Will Smith's new private school insist that it isn't a Scientology school.

Both Mr. Smith and Jada Pinckett Smith say they do not belong to the church and the New Village School's director, Jacqueline Olivier, told The Los Angeles Times' Carla Rivera that while some...

The Expert: Rules of Engagement for Paparazzi, Scientology

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 17:34:21 -0500

Last week, celebrity life coach Patrick Wanis, PhD, wanted to tell our readers his list of the Top Ten Celebrity Meltdowns of 2007.

Today, on the phone with the Daily Transom, he got a little more daring.

First up: recent news that Lindsay Lohan has started to use the paparazzi to her own advantage, setting up and pocketing proceeds from snaps of her own mug.

...

Scientists Debunk Legend

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 17:11:17 -0500

So no action movie is ever going to take science seriously in its plotting. But I Am Legend, this weekend's top Manhattan movie, sparks some interesting ethical and scientific research issues.

Popular Mechanics decided to take on Will Smith head on: "Between a highly regimented schedule hunting deer in Times Square with his dog, Sam, and swinging a five-iron from atop a naval cruiser, Neville tries to find a way to reverse the virus...

Manhattan Weekend Box Office: Big Willy Style! Who Didn't Go to the Movies This Weekend?

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 13:35:25 -0500

The lethal combination of Will Smith in the tentpole apocalypse-drama I Am Legend (No. 1), the nasty weather enveloping the Northeast, and nothing good happening on TV (which translates to nothing good saved for weekend DVR watching) created one of the healthiest weekends for Hollywood in some time. In Manhattan, who didn’t go to the movies? Each movie, save one, Enchanted (No. 8), averaged over the all-important $10,000 waterline, not to mention the behemoth...

Will Smith Foundation Donated $20,000 to Scientology

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 14:55:57 -0500

Rumors suggesting that Will Smith is a Scientologist have been swirling and growing as he is seen in public more and more with Tom Cruise, a well-known member of the organization. There was even an item about it on Page Six today. But now, the likelihood that the I Am Legend star is in fact an L. Ron Hubbard disciple seems a bit greater. It turns out the Will Smith Foundation, which gives away...

Apocalypse N.Y.C.

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 12:42:43 -0500

I AM LEGEND
Running Time 100 minutes
Written by Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman
Directed by Francis Lawrence
Starring Will Smith and Emma Thompson

In I Am Legend, Will Smith plays the last human survivor of a worldwide plague caused by an incurable man-made virus, alone and at the mercy of carnivorous, blood-sucking zombies that prowl the empty canyons of New...

I Am Legend Freaked Me Out!

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 07:03:21 -0500

About 10 minutes into the new Will Smith movie I Am Legend, which opens in Manhattan theaters on Friday, my heart rate went up to about 200 and stayed there for the next hour and a half.

Staggering back out into Times Square's holiday crush from the screening room it seemed we'd just been through an aerobic workout before even facing the crowds of tourists and commuters—surprisingly not zombies.

And the lingering questions were weird ones....

Will Smith Dumped by Girlfriend, People's Republic of China

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 15:45:20 -0500

We all know how powerful China is becoming, but powerful enough to deflate the ego of one of Hollywood’s most sought-after leading men? This morning brought the news that China has yet to green-light Will Smith’s latest blockbusting effort, I Am Legend, which opens here on December 14. The apparent snub comes loosely attached to a report that the nation of 1,321,851,888 citizens plans to block all American movies, hoping to...

Will Smith: Scientology, Bible Almost Identical

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:53:16 -0500

In the latest issue of Men’s Vogue, Will Smith tells the book that, after flirting with Buddhism and Hinduism in the past, he has started to study Scientology with Hollywood pal Tom Cruise. Adding to Mr. Smith’s recent revelation, a source apparently told US Weekly that the I Am Legend star’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, 36, has also become interested in the quasi-religion started by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. In...

A Yankee Fan Pours It On

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 13:29:44 -0400

It's usually a good move in a two-baseball team town to avoid deliberately antagonizing fans of one or the other.

Will Smith, a spokesman for the Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan, isn't worried about such niceties. Here he outside City Hall discussing today's Quinnipiac poll showing that most New Yorkers are Yankee...

Hitch Has Star Power, Box Office Allure, but What Else?

Sun, 27 Feb 2005 19:00:00 -0500

The closest thing I have to a neighborhood multiplex is the Loews Orpheum on Third Avenue and 86th Street. It is there that I trudged off to see Hitch at an early-morning screening, simply because this lukewarmly reviewed comedy had soared to a $46 million opening-week box-office take, far outpacing other current releases and lingering Oscar nominees. I didn't expect much from Hitch and, not surprisingly, I didn't get much-but I was entranced...

No Full-Frontal Farrell-But Some Package!

Sun, 25 Jul 2004 20:00:00 -0400

First, A Home at the End of the World was infamous for Colin Farrell's full-frontal nude scene. Then it was notoriously overpublicized for not showing Colin Farrell's full-frontal nude scene. The bottle-raising, rabble-rousing, never-shaving Irish renegade who comes across as a New Age Robert Blake, addressing the issue on television, has been joking, "Without that scene, the movie is three inches shorter." Hardly worth the fuss, I say. If all that's missing is three...

The Perfect Game for Whatever Ails You

Sun, 05 Nov 2000 19:00:00 -0500

Robert Redford's The Legend of Bagger Vance , from a screenplay by Jeremy Leven, based on the novel by Steven Pressfield, endows the game of golf with enough supernatural spirituality to start a new religion. Most of the movie is built around a golf match involving two real-life legends of the sport, Bobby Jones (Joel Gretsch) and Walter Hagen (Bruce McGill), and a fictional hero, Rannulph Junuh (Matt Damon). The year is 1931, and...