A millionaire debt and inexperienced: how Will Smith became the Prince of Bel-Air
Will Simth has established himself as one of the most charismatic actors in Hollywood. The actor surprises every day with his commitment to the environment and knowing how to be with him. However, he was not always like this. Just see how he got to "The Prince of Bel-Air." The one who had been a singer until then did not know how to properly manage all the money he had earned with his friend Jessy Jeff, with whom he had formed the hip-hop group DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. Together they had won a Grammy for the song Summertime and their record had gone triple platinum. He made a lot of money, but he couldn't manage it.
The actor invested all of his income in cars and expensive clothes, without taking into account taxes. "In my head he wasn't trying to avoid paying taxes, he just hadn't taken it into account," Smith acknowledged in a video on his YouTube channel. It is estimated that he had a tax debt of 2.8 million dollars (2.58 million euros) in back taxes.
“They took everything I had and I was bankrupt. Being famous and being broke is a very bad combination. Because you're still famous, people recognize you, but they recognize you when you're sitting next to them on the bus, ”he said with a laugh. To pay the debt, the North American government kept 70% of each check that the actor received during the first three seasons of the legendary series of the nineties.
Getting to "The Prince of Bel-Air" was not easy. «My girlfriend told me that she had to do something, she could not spend all day lying in bed. But she didn't know what to do, ”he said. It was then that he decided to go to "The Arsenio Hall Show", "it was where the important people were." “There I met an uncle named Benny Medina. He is the true prince of Bel-Air, he went from Watts to Beverly Hills, ”he says. He not only gave her the idea, he also introduced her to the producer who would develop the project, Quincy Jones.
Will Smith showed up at his office, accompanied by Medina. He was littered with actors, artists, and politicians. "Everybody from the 2000s," he notes. The first thing he received from the producer was compliments and a script. “He left me a failed Morris Day pilot and told me he had a few minutes to learn the lines. He was setting up an audition right there, ”he acknowledged. The now actor was intimidated by the offer and asked him for a week to prepare the text.
Among those present was Brandon Tartikoff, head of NBC, who also wanted to see that test. But yes, we can delay it for a week. But he (Tartikoff) will postpone the appointment and this meeting may not take place for another three or four weeks. I do not know. Or you can take ten minutes now and change your life forever, ”he recalled Jones's words. So yeah, he took those ten minutes, learned a few lines, and clowned in true Prince of Bel-Air style.
When he finished the audition, everyone in the room was clapping. Quincy, who had been drinking a little, put his lawyers to work on a draft of the first deal for "The Prince of Bel-Air." When they finished their work, they signed it and took a photo to commemorate the moment. "Three months later we were shooting the pilot," he confessed.
No experience as an actor
Over the years, Will Smith himself claimed to feel ashamed when he remembered his first performances in "The Prince of Bel-Air." «If you watch the first four or five episodes, you can see me muttering the phrases of others. It's terrible and I can't bear to watch it, "he said on" The Graham Norton Show. " "It was my first role and I was very focused on being successful, so I learned the whole script, even the lines of the other characters," he added. The NBC executives themselves almost fired Will Smith because they thought he was a lousy actor and that he had no future in acting. Fortunately, the creators and producers of the series convinced the network of the potential of which he had been a singer until then.
