‘Bad Boys For Life’: Will Smith And Martin Lawrence To Reprise Roles In ‘Bad Boys 3’


Here’s some good news for the fans of the Bad Boys films fretting over the possible casting of the third movie of the trilogy. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence will be reprising their roles in the upcoming sequel, it has been revealed.

It has been 13 years since Bad Boys 2 was released, and unsurprisingly, fans have been wondering whether the new movie is going to be a reboot or a spin-off of the original Bad Boys. Furthermore, the replacement of the director of the first two Bad Boys films, Michael Bay, by Joe Carnahan had made the fans anxious as to whether the original cast would be replaced as well. But fans, fret no more, as the new director and writer, Joe Carnahan, has confirmed that the leads who portrayed the two narcotic cops in the first two films are set to reprise their role, as reported by Comic Book. In an interview, he spoke about the casting of Smith and Lawrence for the new movie.

“There’s only one Will Smith and one Martin Lawrence. You can’t replace those guys and I wouldn’t want to be involved if it wasn’t Will and Martin. They are that franchise.”

Joe Carnahan has replaced Michael Bay as director for the newest installment in the Bad Boys franchise. [Photo by Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images for Variety]

However, Joe would not confirm the return of any of the other previous actors for Bad Boy 3.

“There are obviously little things you want to tip your hat too but I think the danger is becoming this slavish ‘We have to check all these boxes.’

“There aren’t these legions of people demanding your head because you didn’t bring back John Salley or you didn’t bring back Joe Pantoliano. I think you have to be careful with that. I’m always interested in ‘I know what has been done. What hasn’t been done?’ If not it’s just regurgitating old tropes and ideas and that’s not fun for anybody.”

The first Bad Boys movie came out in 1995, and a sequel followed in 2003. The films showed a good rapport between Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as they fought the war on drugs as narcotic cops in Miami. Despite negative reviews from critics, the Bad Boys films have done excellent at the box office, mostly because of the undeniable magic between Smith and Lawrence.

Carnahan also revealed that the schedule for the film has been delayed a little to make up for Will Smith’s hectic Suicide Squad schedule.

“We couldn’t all get in a room, go through this thing and really ring it out. I’m a big believer in ‘Do the work at the script level until you’ve got something you know works.’ That everyone is happy with, the stars are happy with, the director is happy with, the studio is happy with.”

The film’s schedule had been delayed so as to accommodate Smith’s hectic Suicide Squad shooting. [Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images]

And while the A Team director did not reveal much in terms of the storyline, he did mention that Bad Boys 3 has “the strongest script of any of those movies. Hands down. In a walk over.”

“Unless you’re Toy Story 3, usually third ones aren’t the strongest, and I think this one will be the strongest of the trilogy thus far.”

Carnahan seems confident that Bad Boys For Life will be the best in the series despite being the third movie in the franchise.

“There’s a lot of funny s**t in this movie. And there’s also a very mysterious, but tonally spot-on story that I think is kind of perfect for where we are in this day and age, where the guys are and reflectively, a very modern take on these guys. It’s kind of what becomes of Bad Boys when they’re not boys anymore.”

There have been rumors circulating about the plot of the third movie, one being that Bad Boys For Life will be set in real time, 13 years after the second movie, with the main charaters, Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett, adjusting to the suburban lives with their families following retirement.

[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]

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