Once most stars attain fame, it often doesn’t take very long for their experiences to be unrecognizable to the rest of humanity. After all, the vast majority of people will never know what it feels like to win awards simply for doing their jobs. On top of that, it is extremely uncommon for people to experience the masses handing over their hard-earned money to see them perform.
Given the way that celebrities get treated, it makes sense that so many stars develop massive egos. Unfortunately, as a result of the fact that so many stars feel infallible, it can be hard for celebrities who’ve made massive mistakes to recognize it when they mess up. For example, during the early-90s, Will Smith and Ian McKellen worked together and as a result, the elder actor did something really messed up but he doesn’t seem to know that.
Learning To Act
For more than two decades at this point, Will Smith has been known as one of the biggest movie stars in the world. As a result of all the massively successful films that Smith has starred in, it can be easy at times to forget that his acting career started very differently. After all, when Smith agreed to star in the beloved sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, he didn’t have any real acting experience.
When Will Smith was preparing to star in the first episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, he not only memorized his own lines, he made sure to remember every piece of dialogue in the script. As a result, if people pay close attention to some clips from the first episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, they will be able to see Smith occasionally mouthing along with his co-stars' lines. Considering that Smith was so inexperienced as an actor that he would make a mistake like that, is it any wonder that he made some decisions when his acting career was young that he now regrets?
Smith’s Regrets
In 1993, the film adaptation of the famous play Six Degrees of Separation was released with Will Smith in one of the main roles. In that film, Smith played a con artist who shows up on a rich couple’s doorstep and he proceeds to do his best to take everything that he can from his new hosts. At a key point in the film, it comes to light that Smith’s character is gay.
In the film Six Degrees of Separation, Will Smith’s character is seen kissing another man. However, it is pretty obvious that viewers never sees Smith lock lips with a male actor. Instead, the kiss is implied as the embrace is shot from behind Smith’s back. As it turns out, there is a reason for that as Smith refused to kiss a male actor so the film’s director was forced to get creative to make it seem like the two characters were embracing in that way.
In retrospect, it seems like the reason why Will Smith refused to kiss a man onscreen is that he was immature at that time. After all, the same year that Six Degrees of Separation was released, Smith spoke to Entertainment Weekly about his conduct. During that interview, Smith made it clear that he regretted his refusal to kiss a man while in character and he admitted that it was due to a lack of maturity.
“It was very immature on my part. I was thinking, ‘How are my friends in Philly going to think about this?’ I wasn’t emotionally stable enough to artistically commit to that aspect of the film. … This was a valuable lesson for me. Either you do it, or you don’t.”
Unacceptable Behavior
By the time he shared the screen with Will Smith in Six Degrees of Separation, Ian McKellen had become one of the most widely respected actors in the world. As a result, it made all the sense in the world that McKellen thought Smith’s refusal to kiss a man on camera while in character was ridiculous. After all, actors kiss people they have no romantic feelings for all of the time. Years later while talking to Time Out London, McKellen commented on Smith’s decision by describing it as “silly”.
When Ian McKellen learned about Will Smith refusing to kiss a man on camera, the veteran actor could have handled the situation in a lot of ways. For example, McKellen could have pulled Smith aside to talk about the situation or he had the option of not involving himself in any way. During the aforementioned Time Out interview, however, McKellen revealed he did something that is just plain wrong. According to him, McKellen approached Smith at an early preview for Six Degrees of Separation and “gave him a great big kiss on the lips”.
When Ian McKellen planted a kiss on Will Smith’s lips at a very public event, he definitely knew that the younger actor didn’t want to lock lips with a man. No matter how ridiculous McKellen felt Smith’s stance on kissing men was, it was entirely unacceptable for Ian to surprise Will with physical intimacy that he knew was unwanted. Years later when Smith was at the premiere for a different film, another man tried to kiss Will. Afterward, virtually everyone condemned that person’s attempt to kiss Smith yet for some reason, people seem to find it cute that McKellen actually forced Will to lock lips with him.
