Will Smith Wants To Portray Barack Obama In Future Biopic About First Black President
Barack Obama ignored his critics to become the first black president of the United States. Fans of Will Smith and the Suicide Squad ignored critics and went to theaters in droves. The movie opened this past weekend to the tune of over $135 million, making it the biggest opening weekend in August of all time. The two might not have anything to do with one another except for a potential future connection between Smith and Obama.
One of the biggest Hollywood stars in the world, Will Smith plays Deadshot, an assassin with a heart, in Suicide Squad, but he’s targeted a much more important role for a film sometime down the line. According to the Independent, Smith would like to portray Barack Obama in the event a biopic is made about the 44th president of the United States of America.
Fresh Prince of the White House? https://t.co/WL8yWnIziq
— Loaded (@loadedonline) August 4, 2016
In fact, Smith and Obama have actually had discussions about that very idea. The former Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last week to promote his latest film, and after the host pressed him on the possibility of entering politics, revealed that he and Obama talked about bringing Barack’s rise to political power to the silver screen. Smith says he missed the chance to actually be the first black president, but the current POTUS told him he has one quality that qualifies him to play the part.
“We’ve talked about it a couple of times and he said the one thing that’s for sure is I have the ears to play him.”
Smith is no stranger to portraying real people during an acting career that began in 1990. Although his superstardom was due in large part to roles in blockbusters like Independence Day, Bad Boys, Men in Black and I Am Legend, he also cut his teeth perfecting Muhammad Ali in Ali, Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness, and, more recently, Dr. Bennet Omalu in Concussion. Unfortunately, there’s a shorter list of candidates considered for movies depicting historical black figures, but Will Smith always seems to be on it.
Could Will Smith Play Barack Obama? – CBS Local https://t.co/XTrUDeiuwJ
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It should be noted that Smith would not be the first actor to play Obama on screen. Southside with You, set for a wide release at the end of next month, is the story of how Barack Obama met and fell in love with Michelle in Chicago before eventually landing in Washington. Parker Sawyers plays the role of Obama, with Tika Sumpter cast as Michelle. Among Sawyers’ more notable credits include roles in Zero Dark Thirty, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, and Survivor, so he’s extremely familiar in politically-based films as it is.
According to Smith’s IMDb page, the actor will continue to churn out movies over the next three years. It appears the Bad Boys franchise will be reprised, with the third and fourth installments announced beginning in 2017. He also has Bright, Collateral Beauty, and The American Can on his docket, with the latter based on actual events in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Beauty will also star Kiera Knightley, Edward Norton, Kate Winslet, and Helen Mirren, centering around a “tragic event (that) sends a New York ad man on a downward spiral.”
Chances are that, eventually, there will be movies made on both the 44th and 45th Presidents of the United States. First, for the first black POTUS, and if the early polls are any indication, one for the first woman president, in Hillary Clinton. Will Smith appears to have the early stranglehold on portraying Obama, and it’s very likely an article like this could be making waves in another four to eight years from now in regards to an actress staking her claim to Hillary.
[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]
