‘Hitch’ Director Recalls Filming With Will Smith Was “A Battle,” Only Found Out a Sequel Is in the Works “Three Months Ago”

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Andy Tennant is looking back on his 2005 film, Hitch, with less than fond memories.

The director of the romantic comedy starring Will Smith, Kevin James, and Eva Mendes, who marked its 20th anniversary recently, shared with Business Insider his strained relationship with the movie’s main actor, Will Smith. According to the director, they frequently clashed over script revisions and the film’s creative direction. The disagreements were so severe that Smith contemplated leaving the project merely days before production started.

I recall Will attempting an exit just three days prior to our game kickoff. He expressed a desire to pause production and fine-tune things further.” – My gaming perspective

As the director explained, we encountered challenges. The vision I had for the film and what Will envisioned were different, but neither of those visions turned out to be as strong as the final product we created collaboratively. It was quite a struggle.

In other parts of his discussion, he detailed how Smith was initially reluctant to contribute to significant scenes in the movie, such as the doorstep scene with him and James, as well as the Ellis Island scene. They even disagreed on humorous moments. Yet, Tennant recalls an instance where they found common ground, specifically the memorable dance scene where Hitch (Smith) instructs Albert (James) on dancing.

The director of “Fool’s Gold” credited Jada Pinkett, Smith’s wife, for being a valuable source of assistance throughout the production and occasionally backing up his intuition.

After wrapping up filming for “Hitch”, Will abruptly departed without saying farewell or even a word to me, Tennant recalled, further mentioning that the Academy Award recipient had expressed his belief that the film was destined for failure, mirroring Tennant’s own sentiments.

He added: “When it was over, my time with Will was over … I have never heard from him since. 

The movie was a massive success, pulling in more than $370 million worldwide and continuing to captivate viewers.

It seems a follow-up to the 20-year-old comedy is apparently underway, which Tennant has just recently learned about. “I submitted a plan for a sequel, which was quite enjoyable, but it appears Will is making a sequel without me. I found out about it three months ago,” he shared. “I had a great idea for a sequel and was discussing it with an executive at Sony, and they told me Will’s production company is working on a sequel. That’s just how Hollywood works.

Despite appearing as if Smith is progressing with the project without him, Tennant maintains that he holds no grudge against the actor. “He brought me on board to produce this film,” Tennant stated. “It wasn’t a simple task for anyone.

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2025-02-13 07:25