The Smith family is in the media more than ever before thanks to Jada Pinkett Smith’s Red Table Talk. But we can’t forget about Will Smith. The iconic comedian has a number of fantastic movies under his belt, though he surely knows he’s acted in a number of duds. And he admitted to Jimmy Fallon while visiting The Tonight Show that he knows when fans aren’t going to enjoy his movies. Here’s what he said.

Will Smith talked about ‘Bad Boys for Life’ while visiting ‘The Tonight Show’

Fans of Bad Boys have had to wait quite awhile for another sequel. The original film came out in 1995, and the sequel was released in 2003. Now, 17 years later, Will teamed up with a few comedic greats to bring back the magic of the movie with Bad Boys For Life.

So, why did it take so long for Will to pick the franchise back up? It seems he didn’t want to ruin what was so good about the first two films. “I just didn’t want to wreck the franchise,” he told CRWN with Elliott Wilson on TIDAL. “I felt like I had other sequels in my career [where I felt] like I didn’t land it. But with this one, I just wanted to protect this franchise.”

Will also sat down with Fallon to talk about the film in January 2020. “What we tried to do that was really critical and important to me is not try to just do the old movies again,” Will noted. “You have to take into consideration the time and take into consideration how the characters would have grown.”

Will admitted he knows when fans aren’t going to enjoy his films

Will didn’t want Bad Boys For Life to just be another sequel. “I didn’t want to make it just as a cash grab,” Will explained on The Tonight Show. “I had fumbled a couple of my last sequels. I wasn’t happy with the Men in Black sequel, and I just really wanted to make sure that this was a standalone film that people would have a real, brand-new experience in.”

The actor certainly seems genuine when talking about how much he loved filming Bad Boys For Life and bringing the characters back. But he then admitted to Fallon that he’s had to promote plenty of movies he knew would totally flop.

“It’s fantastic. Ya’ll gonna love it,” Will added. “And I say that a lot. I say that a lot. I’m gonna keep it real, sometimes I say ya’ll gonna love it and ya’ll not gonna love it. Sometimes I’ve seen it and I know ya’ll not gonna love it, but it’s an expensive movie. But this time, this movie is out of here.”

He’s had some crushing movie failures in the past

Will can laugh off his movie failures now, but there’s no doubt he’s had plenty that hurt him in the past. Back in 2013, Will was involved in a movie with his son, Jaden Smith. The father-son duo starred in After Earth together, but it totally bombed. And because Jaden was involved in the failure, Will called it “excruciating.”

While talking to Esquire, Will noted that he took this lesson to heart: “Don’t let success go to your head and failure go to your heart.”

“That was a valuable lesson for me a few years ago with After Earth,” Will explained. “That was the most painful failure in my career. … Wild Wild West was less painful than After Earth because my son was involved in After Earth and I led him into it. That was excruciating.”

Both Jaden and Will have bounced back since After Earth, though. And we’re excited to see what they both continue to work on in the future!

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