Will Smith doesn't mention the slap, but does talk some of his greatest hits (literally) on Hot Ones
Smith's trip through the gauntlet included discussions of how to make a hit in Hollywood, his own personal hits, and getting hit by Michael Bentt for Ali
The word “hit” can mean many different things. Sometimes, it’s a critically and commercially acclaimed box office success, like Will Smith’s Bad Boys franchise has been for decades now. Other times, it means hitting someone in the face, say, at the 2022 Oscars, which Will Smith also knows a little something about.
While the latter did not come up (as expected) in Will Smith’s recent go at the Hot Ones wing gauntlet, the Legendary actor discussed a bunch of other types of hits, including one directed at him on the set of his 2001 boxing biopic, Ali.
Almost begging for the Twitter/X repost treatment, host Sean Evans prompted Smith by asking, “What’s the most painful, inadvertent hit you’ve ever taken while shooting a sequence?” Smith responded that it was from his co-star, Michael Bentt, who played Ali’s rival, Sonny Liston.
“I was leaning back and my trainer was trying to get me to get the angle of my spine forward and in this second I just was like you know what, commit. And I committed and leaned forward and almost as an instinctual reaction Michael Bentt threw a right hand, and I put my head down and he caught me with a right hand right on top of my head,” Smith said. “I felt an electrical shock go down the back of both arms to my elbows… that was like the hardest I’ve ever been hit on a movie set.”
Smith also took some time to address his personal definition of the word “hit,” as it refers to the current state of Hollywood. “The definition of a hit is still pretty much the same. Essentially it’s just harder to get one… you used to be able to put some explosions in the trailer and a couple of good jokes and people were there,” he said. “Television is so good, there are things that people just aren’t going to leave their house for anymore. There’s definitely a higher demand for a certain type of film for people to leave their homes.”
If anyone can be relied on to consistently deliver those types of films it’s Smith, who recently went viral for a clip of him acting and essentially directing himself in Bad Boys: Ride Or Die, all with an extremely heavy rig strapped to his chest. As for his personal Mount Rushmore of hits that he sees as defining his career, it’s The Pursuit Of Happyness, the first Men In Black movie, I Am Legend, and King Richard.