Will Smith Comments on Actors’ Strike

This month, the actor’s guild SAG-AFTRA went on strike after negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers broke down with no deal in place. Between the recent SAG strike and the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike, most film and television productions have halted. Many famous faces have been spotted on the picket lines, and actors have been speaking out about the current state of Hollywood. Yesterday, Will Smith took to Instagram to pay tribute to his acting mentor and talk about what the art form means to him. 

“I wanna talk for a second about ACTING. As some of yall mighta heard, my guild, @SAGAFTRA are on strike along with our writer colleagues in the WGA,” Smith wrote. “It’s a pivotal moment for our profession. 33 years into my career as an actor and there are still some days when I feel like I’m that kid from Philly who’s on borrowed time, even though I know I’ve been extraordinarily blessed and lucky to have worked as an actor all this time. It’s thanks to my friend, my teacher and my mentor @aaronspeiser whom I fondly refer to as ‘coach’ that those days when I feel like I don’t belong are fewer and further between.”

He continued, “Coach invited me to an acting class the other day and I met a group of our talented next generation of actors and they amazed and inspired me! I’m grateful to coach for continuing to support these talented hopefuls in this art-form that I love and have been lucky enough to work in for three decades of my life! Thanks COACH!” You can view his post below:

Bad Boys 4 Gets Release Date:

Will Smith’s next project will see him renting with Martin Lawrence for a fourth Bad Boys film. Yesterday, Sony officially announced the movie will be coming on June 14, 2024. The duo first played Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett in Michael Bay’s Bad Boys back in 1995 and they went on to reprise their roles in Bad Boys II in 2003 and Bad Boys For Life in 2020. After the success of the threequel, which was one of the only movies to have a full run at the box office in 2020 before the pandemic shut everything down, a fourth movie was quickly put into development and it was officially announced to be in the works this January. 

In addition to Smith and Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens will be reprising her role as Kelly. Fantastic Four star Ioan Gruffudd has also joined the cast as Lockwood, “a high-profile attorney running for election.” Aside from a few new character details, the plot of the fourth Bad Bays movie is currently unknown. Bad Boys For Life actors Paola Núnez and Alexander Ludwig are also expected to reprise their roles.

Stay tuned for more updates about the SAG strike.