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Will Smith reveals worst film he’s starred in: “It’s a thorn in my side”

It's not particularly revered among his fans, either

Will Smith hangs out at the Gemini Man premiere
(Photo: Alamy)

Will Smith has denounced ‘Wild Wild West’ as the worst film he’s ever starred in.

Smith starred opposite Kevin Kline in the 1999 film, a big-screen adaptation of Michael Garrison’s 1960s TV series.

It proved to be a major dud upon release, scoring a string of negative reviews and failing to set the box office alight.

The Hollywood star has now taken a similarly dim view on the film, revealing his opinion during a task where he was tasked with going undercover online to pose as a fan and see what people were saying about him.

Currently on the promo trail for upcoming sports drama ‘King Richard’, Will was set the task of online snooping for GQ Magazine when he found a thread where fans discussed his best and worst ever films.

He set up a fake Quora account and decided to join in with the fun.

He wrote: “For the best, I think it is a tie between the first Men In Black and The Pursuit of Happyness. For different reasons, those are the two almost perfect movies.”

On a less positive note, he denounced ‘Wild Wild West’ as a “thorn in my side”.

“To see myself with chaps… I don’t like it,” he said.

Smith’s next role in ‘King Richard’ sees him playing the father and coach of superstar tennis players Serena and Venus Williams.

Earlier this year, director Roland Emmerich also revealed that Will almost didn’t get cast in one of his other hit films, ‘Independence Day’. 

Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin told The Hollywood Reporter that the studio wasn’t keen on Smith for the lead role that turned him into an A-list film star.

He said: “It was pretty clear it had to be Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum. That was the combo we thought. The studio said, ‘No, we don’t like Will Smith. He’s unproven. He doesn’t work in international [markets].'”

Devlin added: “They said, ‘You cast a Black guy in this part, you’re going to kill foreign [box office]. Our argument was, ‘Well, the movie is about space aliens. It’s going to do fine foreign.’ It was a big war, and Roland really stood up for [Smith] – and we ultimately won that war.”

Emmerich eventually threatened to go to another studio:  “It was pretty shortly before the shoot and we still hadn’t locked in Will and Jeff. I put my foot down: ‘Universal people are calling every day, so give me these two actors or I move over there.’

“I don’t think it would have been a possibility [to change studios], but it was a great threat,” he added.