Will Smith On Why They Took Their Time With Bad Boys For Life, Wasn’t Happy With Men in Black Sequel

Will Smith promises that fans will love this month’s Bad Boys For Life, even while acknowledging that sometimes he has to say those kinds of things. Smith appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to promote the film and talked about how they really took their time (17 years worth) to make sure that the film was going to be worth doing.

“It’s 25 years from the first movie. And what we tried to do, that was really critical and important to me, is not try to just do the old movies again,” said Smith. “I was like, you had to take into consideration the time, had to take into consideration how the characters would have grown. And the reason it took so long is because I didn’t want to make it just as a cash grab. You know, ‘Hey, everybody loves sequels, let’s just do a sequel.’ And I had fumbled a couple of my last sequels. You know, I wasn’t happy with the Men in Black sequel, and I just really wanted to make sure that this was a stand-alone film that people would have a real, brand-new experience in.”

That said, Smith acknowledged that sometimes he has to say that kind of thing to promote a film. He noted, “Y’all are gonna love it. And I say that a lot. I’m gonna keep it real: sometimes I say ‘Y’all are gonna love it,’ and y’all not gonna love it. You know, ’cause sometimes I’ve seen it, and I know y’all not gonna love it, but it’s an expensive movie. But this time…it is so good. If you liked the first two at all, there are scenes in this movie — because it’s really about friendship, and about the reality of what it’s like when somebody’s life takes a different turn. You’re ready to go one way, and your partner’s ready to go in another direction.”

The film stars Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Charles Melton, Paola Nunez, Kate Del Castillo, Nicky Jam, and Joe Pantoliano. It is set to release on January 17th.