It is not often an actor experiences both the high point and the low point of their careers on the same night, but you can always trust Will Smith to push the boundaries of movie stardom. His win as best actor for King Richard ought to have been the cherry on top of one of the most successful film careers in history – except Smith himself had already sabotaged the moment, the night, and possibly his future when he got up on stage 40 minutes earlier and slapped Chris Rock. Smith could spend the rest of his life looking back on Sunday night as the best of times and the worst, but which one will prevail? Is Smith big enough to survive such a jarring incident – or is the Fresh Prince past his sell-by date?
The unique nature of both the incident and the actor have us grasping for precedent. In 2017, Casey Affleck went through the similarly awkward motions of accepting best actor Oscar, for Manchester By the Sea, even as allegations of earlier sexual harassment resurfaced, turning what should have been a huge career bounce into a damaging trial by public opinion. Affleck denied the accusations but his reputation has never really recovered. He’s a rising character actor, though. Will Smith is in a different league, arguably one of his own.
Richard Williams, the character Smith played in King Richard, drew up an 85-page plan for how to turn his daughters Venus and Serena into tennis champs. It worked. Similarly, in the early 1990s, Smith drew up a plan to become the biggest movie star in the world, analysing box-office numbers and movie formulas. That worked too. He has ruled Hollywood for over 30 years, his films grossing over $9 billion at the box office, and he has an estimated net worth of at least $350 million. He is one of the few actors whose name can open a movie and usually guarantee a $100m box office (King Richard has performed far below that, but then it was released simultaneously on HBO Max). Smith’s projects in the pipeline include slavery thriller Emancipation, for which Apple paid $120m for the rights, a sequel to the Netflix sci-fi Bright, a travel series with National Geographic and Bad Boys 4. Is Smith simply too big to fail?
“I don’t think anybody’s too big to fail,” says film publicist Charles McDonald. “Not in this day and age.” In recent years, entertainment figures once considered unassailable have been swiftly dethroned, McDonald points out, not least by the #MeToo movement. Harvey Weinstein was, after all, considered a fixture of the movie industry. “I don’t think it’s a question of size,” says McDonald. “I think it’s just a question of who you are, what your position is, and how you’re thought of. I think probably Will Smith can surface – if he does the right thing, in the right time.”
There is a crisis-management protocol to situations like this, says Bumble Ward, another seasoned film publicist. “The steps are always the same. You have to show proper contrition. You have to apologise to those you’ve hurt. And then you have to behave in such a way that people don’t believe it’s going to happen again. But it has to be a proper apology. I think he did a lot of that work in his speech.”
During the commercial break between the actor slapping Rock and his acceptance speech, Smith’s publicist Meredith O Sullivan was spotted in discussion with Smith at his table, as was Denzel Washington. When he went up to collect his award, Smith clearly did not give the speech he’d originally planned. He cited Richard Williams as “a fierce defender of his family”. He relayed Washington’s advice to him moments earlier: “At your highest moment, be careful – that’s when the devil comes for you.” And he professed that “love will make you do crazy things”. He also apologised to the Academy and to his fellow nominees but, pointedly, not to Rock himself.
Another industry insider, who did not wish to be named, predicted that Smith would be making a public apology to Rock pretty soon. Rock would likely reciprocate and apologise to Jada Pinkett Smith. The event would then be swept under the red carpet as quickly as possible. That process was already under way on Sunday night. Host Amy Schumer made light of the event, saying: “Did I miss anything? There’s, like, a different vibe in here.” Presenting best actress, Anthony Hopkins also seemed ready to move on. “Will Smith said it all,” he said, to nervous laughter from the audience. “What more can be said? Let’s have peace and love and quiet.”
But there is quite a lot more to be said. This crisis is by no means over. The Smith brand has not looked entirely rock-solid in recent years. In fact, it has been in recovery mode. His 2016 movie Collateral Beauty, an excruciating self-help tearjerker, was the biggest flop of his career. More damaging still was 2013’s After Earth, a self-funded sci-fi movie designed to showcase the talents of the entire Smith clan: Will and Jada co-produced, Will co-wrote, and reportedly co-directed, with M Night Shyamalan. He also co-starred alongside his son, Jaden, who was parachuted into the lead role.
Sometimes it felt less like a film and more like an exposure of the Smith family’s weaknesses and weirdnesses, compounded by a series of bizarre interviews (the Smith children’s contemptuous comments about traditional schools made them seem out of touch) along with revelations about the Smith parents’ not-so-private life. In 2020, Will and Jada opted to air their relationship issues in public on Jada’s talk show Red Table Talk, where she spoke of their separation and her “entanglement” with another man – rapper August Alsina – as Smith nodded along.
At the same time, there has always been a messianic aspect to Smith’s public persona. He has self-belief and bravado in droves, from his rap career to his portrayal of Muhammad Ali in 2002, which earned him his first Oscar nomination. As last year’s memoir Will laid out, Smith has been on something of a journey lately, re-examining his childhood and his father’s abuse of his mother, but also going on ayahuasca trips in the Amazon. Smith evidently believes in his own sense of purpose, as he made clear in his Oscars speech. “In this time in my life, in this moment,” he said, “I am overwhelmed by what God is calling on me to do and be in this world. I’m being called on in my life to love people, and to protect people, and to be a river to my people.”
But is Smith actually fulfilling this role? That is open to question. The public might easily find such pronouncements off-putting. Showbiz careers live and die by public opinion: some are wondering if Smith’s career might now be at a tipping point; others expect this to blow over. “I think he can survive,” says McDonald. “I think people have a great affection for him. You can’t resort to violence like that, obviously, and the language he used afterwards, despite the provocation. But I think there will be sympathy for him.”
Other Oscar-winners on the night might not be feeling much sympathy for Smith right now, given that his actions effectively drowned out their moments of glory. As for Smith’s own achievements, he might well have cancelled out what should have been the greatest night of his life.
