As a gamer with decades of experience under my belt, I can wholeheartedly say that the cinematic universe of Men in Black is one that has left an indelible mark on my pop culture radar. The dynamic between Will Smith’s Agent J and Tommy Lee Jones’ Agent K, coupled with the intriguing blend of practical and CGI effects, makes for a truly captivating watch. However, behind the scenes, there seems to have been an incident that was less than enjoyable – the infamous Will Smith fart debacle.
Approximately three decades post its debut, “Men in Black” continues to be one of Will Smith’s top-tier films, despite requiring some persuasion from Steven Spielberg for him to agree to star. The Malibu Comics adaptation offers plenty of entertainment, ranging from the chemistry between Agent J (Smith) and Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones), to the creative blend of practical and CGI effects used to bring the movie’s diverse alien characters to life. However, the filming process for “Men in Black” had one less-than-pleasant moment when Smith accidentally passed gas so foul that it necessitated a three-hour evacuation of the set.
This gas of a story comes to us from Men in Black director Barry Sonnenfeld, who stopped by Let’s Talk Off Camera to plug his new book, Best Possible Place, Worst Possible Time, which is filled with stories from his film and TV career. During the episode, Sonnfeld recalled to host Kelly Ripa about the time he and the Men in Black crew were getting ready to shoot Smith and Jones (whom the director said “does not suffer fools”) in a device that functioned as a car turning into a “hyper car.” The actors had to get into this device via the kind of ladders you’d find at an airport tarmac, and then they were “hermetically sealed” in.
To ensure everyone’s safety, the actors were kept inside a contraption to prevent falls. However, this precaution led to an unforeseen incident. Director Sonnenfeld overheard Will Smith apologizing to Tommy Lee Jones and requested someone named Baz to fetch a ladder. Contrary to what it might seem, Jones was merely reassuring Smith that he shouldn’t fret about the accident (not expressing disapproval of Smith’s behavior). Once out of the device, Jones quickly descended the stairs to leave the set. As Sonnenfeld recounted:
What happened was, Will Smith is a farter. It’s just some people are, and you really don’t want to be inside a very small hermetically sealed space with a Will Smith fart. You don’t even want to be sitting next to him at the Disney ranch.
While I’m not going to shame Will Smith for being a farmer, I also have to side with Tommy Lee Jones on this. If you’re an enclosed space like that and someone lets one rip, that’s just a brutal experience. Fortunately, it sounds like it didn’t take too long to get the actors free, but the tradeoff was production grinding to a screeching halt. As Barry Sonnenfeld put it:
For approximately three hours, we vacated the stage, which is quite amazing. He’s a delightful individual, although he tends to pass gas sometimes, as not everyone does.
This news about flatulence might be the most significant entertainment scandal since Whoopi Goldberg was reportedly the biggest farter among The View hosts back in 2023. Regarding Will Smith, it seems this incident involving passing gas was an unfortunate one-time occurrence during the filming of Men in Black, and there were no further issues related to his flatulence throughout production. Following this event, Smith and Jones continued their roles as J and K in two additional Men in Black movies, all directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. In 2019, a spin-off titled Men in Black: International was launched, but it received unfavorable reviews and underperformed at the box office with Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson leading the cast.
Currently, if you want to stream the initial three “Men in Black” films, you’ll need Sling TV as your streaming platform. This year, Will Smith appeared in “Bad Boys: Ride or Die”. He also serves as one of the producers for the upcoming “Karate Kid” movie, which is slated for release in May 2025 according to the film schedule.
Read More
Sorry. No data so far.
2024-10-03 00:37