Will Smith is one of the most famous people on the planet, and he achieved this fame by having hits on the big and small screen. Sure, he is making waves these days for his personal life and getting into it with rappers, but many remember his glory days from the past. While he did pass on some huge roles, he had more than his share of success in Hollywood.
As his children grew, Will wanted to share the love with his kids, which led him to having a helping hand in his son’s acting career. Turns out, this may have not been the best decision by Will, and many wonder if he regrets giving Jaden a huge push.
Today, we are going to take a deeper look at Jaden’s acting and how it all fizzled out.
Jaden’s Acting Gets Panned
While still a youngster, Jaden Smith was getting a huge push from Hollywood, which undoubtedly fed into the nepotism that the industry is criticized for. What’s unfortunate for Jaden is that many people decided to take shots at his acting chops, which must have been tough to deal with at a young age.
Sure, there were some people that found some joy when he was in The Pursuit of Happyness, but it became clear in a hurry that Jaden just did not have the chops to be a great actor on the big screen, and there were plenty of people waiting to pile it on the young performer.
USA Today would review the film After Earth and note that Jaden “could have used acting lessons.” Ouch. The fact that the publication was willing to take this big of a jab at Jaden just goes to show how poor his acting truly was. Not just that, but it also showed that Will’s misguided attempt to help his son out wound up hurting him in the long run.
Jaden has a unique way of irritating the masses, with stunts like calling himself “the future of filmmaking” being just the tip of the iceberg. Naturally, a ridiculous claim like this is going to make reviewers all the more critical, and Jaden was eating a ton of crow when people started to talk about his acting.
The After Earth Debacle
Now, After Earth should have been the vehicle that launched Jaden into the stratosphere, but instead, it wound up being something that completely shattered the public’s perception of him while simultaneously damaging Will’s career. This passion project tore things down and wreaked havoc for years.
The big-budget film was intended to make a whole heap of money, and the fact that it starred the normally bankable Will meant that it should have been a slam dunk of a project. Well, the film only made $60 million stateside, meaning that it had very little interest from the general public. What made things worse is that it was picked apart by reviewers and was slammed by audiences, as well.
The New Yorker was not particularly impressed with Jaden, saying he “...isn't a charismatic actor; he doesn't put a lot of personality into the part, and he doesn't have a deft way with the dialogue.” Not exactly a positive message for other movie studios to look at when considering him for a lead role in the future.
This project wound up being a damaging blow, and Will himself has even talked about how poorly things went all around.
In an interview with Esquire, Will would say, “That was the most painful failure in my career.”
Jaden Steps Away
After Earth was a complete and total mess, and this would send Jaden away from landing huge projects on the big screen. Despite having some work on television, it is quite clear that studios don’t see him as a star.
One look at Jaden’s filmography will reveal a lack of films following After Earth. Even Will has had some struggles over the years since that movie came out. In the movie business, all it takes in one terrible flick to completely derail things, and it seems as though After Earth was the straw that broke the camel’s back here.
Jaden’s small screen endeavors have also been met with a ton of criticism. His Netflix series, The Get Down, cost over $100 million to make, and it was axed after just one season. This was yet another example of Jaden not living up to his lofty claims of being the future of filmmaking, and it also let studios know that he was no sure thing in terms of making bank.
Thanks to having deep pockets and a social media following, Jaden will never have to worry about much, but Will has had to live with his decision to give Jaden a huge push so early. He has had to live with the fallout of it all, while Jaden continues to do his thing, whatever that may be at the time.