Why Will Smith Evacuated the Sound Stage in ‘Men in Black’ According to the Director
Will Smith was known to goof off a bit with his Men in Black director Barry Sonnenfeld. But at one point, the actor’s behavior hilariously led to the entire film’s crew keeping their distance from him.
Will Smith halted the entire ‘Men in Black’ set by doing this
The Men in Black set always seems to be a riot whenever Smith and Sonnenfeld get together. In the past, the two have joked with each other a little too much, to the point where accidents happened.
Recently, Sonnenfeld revealed that another lighthearted incident they had while filming the first movie led to delaying an entire Men in Black sequence. The director described the Men in Black scene where Smith and his co-star Tommy-Lee Jones are riding inside their iconic black car. In reality, Smith and Jones were both inside a pod enhanced with special effects.
“There are locks to prevent it from opening and falling,” Sonnenfeld said about the pod on Let’s Talk Off Camera With Kelly Ripa. “I say, ‘Roll camera.’ And I hear Will Smith go, ‘Oh Jesus, so sorry. Tommy, so sorry. Baz, get the ladder.’ And you hear Tommy saying, ‘That’s fine, Will. No worries, Will. Don’t worry, Will.’”
After he retrieved the ladder, Sonnenfeld discovered that Smith accidentally farted inside the pod.
“And what happened was, Will Smith is a farter. It’s just some people are. And you really don’t want to be inside a very small hermetically sealed space with a Will Smith fart. You don’t even want to be sitting next to him at the Disney ranch,” Sonnenfeld said.
“We evacuated the stage for about three hours,” he added. “And that’s incredible. No, he’s, you know, a lovely guy. Just, he farts. Some do, some don’t.”
Will Smith made Barry Sonnenfeld’s job better
Smith and Sonnenfeld have worked together on all three Men in Black movies. Throughout the course of their partnership, Sonnenfeld has had nothing but kind words to say about the actor. The filmmaker asserted that Smith was more than just a pleasure to work with. He helped alleviate the often overwhelming stress that came with directing a movie. Especially a big-budget venture like Men in Black.
“On MIB, I’m neurotic, and Will is incredibly not neurotic,” Sonnenfeld said in a 2012 interview with Vulture. “I am full of self-loving and self-loathing, and Will is only self-loving. It’s great to have his strength, which he hands over to the director, be it karmic or emotional or just because he’s a powerful actor in the studio system. But he says, ‘What do you need? How can I help?’”
Sonnenfeld asserted that his professional experiences with Smith only improved after the latter’s star power grew.
“He allows me to be stronger. He backs me up. I’ve given up the psychosomatic heart attacks! I use stress more as a dietary tool — I was able to lose 25 pounds during MIB. For me, it’s about unconscious narcissistic rage, because I take any anger I feel and internalize it,” he said.
“So, as a hypothetical, if a prop guy doesn’t show up with the bicycles, or the special-effects guy can’t get the elevators to work, even though he said it would be ready, or you want an actor to do a certain thing and he’s terrible, I’ve decided not to express it but to internalize it so I don’t seem like a yelling a**hole on the set,” Sonnenfeld added.
What Barry Sonnenfeld feels about a potential ‘Men in Black’ sequel
Smith’s sci-fi franchise hasn’t had a sequel since 2012’s Men in Black 3. There was an attempt to expand the series with Men in Black: International, but neither Smith or Sonnenfeld returned for the 2019 movie. As far as an official sequel reuniting the two, Sonnenfeld didn’t rule it out. But he took more of a wait and see approach.
“When people ask about a sequel, I say, ‘Let’s finish this one first.’ We’ll see. It would have to be in outer space,” Sonnenfeld said.
