5 films with other performances by Will Smith worthy of an Oscar

2022 was not the first year that Will Smith was nominated for an Oscar, something that is not striking given the length and versatility of his filmography. If the role of the father of tennis players Serena and Venus Williams in King Richard finally gave him the prize, it is worth remembering some of his best works that, in addition, are available for streaming.

Throughout his three-decade career, Smith has been a public favorite on blockbusters such as Independence Day, the saga of Men in Black, I'm Legend or the series that made him famous, The Prince of Bel-Air, but he is also remembered for roles like those he did in Six degrees of separation, Hitch or Seven Souls. From drama to comedy, from action to horror, from animation to Sci-Fi, Smith has shown an amazing acting ability.

Ali (2002) - HBO Max

The third was the winner and won the Oscar, but Smith's first nomination for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences award was 20 years ago, when he played the legendary boxer Muhammad Ali. Directed by Michael Mann (The Insider, The Last of the Mohicans, Miami Vice) and accompanied by Jamie Foxx and Jon Voight, he created an unusual portrait of Ali.

Focused on 10 years of the boxer's life, the film showed him as a man at once determined and introverted, charismatic but estranged. The story begins when the young Olympic gold medal winner, still called Cassius Clay, comes out to prove that, as he argues, he is the greatest boxer of all time. Soon he won the heavyweight championship and success exposes each of his decisions to the public judgment.

It is the sixties at the height of the struggle for civil rights and Ali changes his name, so as not to bear that of someone who is a victim of slavery. His involvement in the Nation of Islam and his relationship with Malcolm X add to the controversy. The war in Vietnam causes the United States to need more soldiers, and a change in the criteria for recruitment includes it among the so-called.

Given his reputation, he could well have arranged a short and privileged mission; however, Ali decides to denounce an unjust war, declare himself a conscientious objector and refuse to kill on behalf of a country that discriminated against its own African-American citizens. The ensuing controversy led him to court, and Smith reflects the professional and personal cost of Ali's sacrifice — among other things, the inability to box in the United States — a path in which he went from being a sports star to an icon of social activism.

En busca de la felicidad (The Pursuit of Happyness, sic, 2007) - HBO Max

Smith's second Oscar nomination — who also won 84 other awards in his career — was for his role as Chris Gardner, the father of a child (played by his real-life son, Jayden Smith) who goes out of his way to care for him in a desperate economic spiral into the abyss. Directed by Gabriele Muccino, the film showed Smith in a realistic representation, something that perhaps magnifies the harshness of the struggle of this man who, in a memorable scene, sleeps in a bathroom.

The film about a salesman left on the street and in charge of his son anticipated in a couple of years the adversity that the crisis of 2008 caused millions. Perhaps his story of resilience and hope against all difficulties was motivation for many at that time. In particular because it is based on the life of Chris Gardner, who today is a lecturer, millionaire and philanthropist.

With unsweetened scenarios (poorly maintained apartments, poor nurseries), the film talks about the importance of money with a rare sincerity in Hollywood: the struggle of those who live daily, about to fall off the map due to some unforeseen event. Homeless but with the conviction that surrender is not an option, Smith's Gardner has been pushed aside and rejected into shelters without damaging his sense of dignity and love.

This 21st century version of the American dream is based primarily on Smith's performance.

La verdad oculta (Concussion, 2015) - Netflix

Another great story based on a real case, another great interpretation by Smith for critics and the public: Nigerian-American doctor Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist who discovered the incidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) among football players.

It is now something known to the public, but at the time when Omalu performed the autopsy of Mike Webster, a Pittsburgh Steelers player, in 2002, it was a very sensitive, questioned and even denied subject in one of America's favorite and millionaire sports. Smith's role brought him a remarkable amount of seriousness and sensitivity to the issue, yet he was not nominated for the jackpot prizes, something that years later was highlighted in the #OscarsSoWhite campaign, on the incidence of racism in Hollywood.

Smith embodies the scientific, social and emotional crusade of this doctor who confronts the authorities of the powerful NFL to show that too many young people in American football were suffering from this progressive neurodegenerative disease, due to successive brain trauma, which was already known in other athletes, such as boxers.

In the role of Omalu under the direction of Peter Landesman (Parkland, Kill the Messenger) Will reflected the xenophobic disqualifications faced by the doctor, which included campaigns of harassment against his family. Ridley Scott produced the film that was also inspired by the suicide of Junior Seau and Dave Duerson, two stars who committed suicide due to the cognitive decline caused by CTE.

Enemigo público (Enemy of the State, 1998) - Star+

This film by Tony Scott (Domino, Unstoppable), in which Gene Hackman and Jon Voight worked, shows a young Smith in a very different role than he usually does. Instead of a self-confident, resourceful and determined man, Robert Clayton Dean, a lawyer targeted by a discrediting campaign, is full of fears and insecurities. And Smith shows that his arc of representation of emotions is extremely broad.

A head of the United States National Security Agency (NSA) will not stop until he eliminates the threat posed by the lawyer, who owns a video implicating another official in the murder of a congressman who opposed a law that would allow the NSA and other agencies to violate citizens' privacy. But Smith's character doesn't even know that content. His ignorance does not prevent his career, his marriage and even his life from starting to fall apart because of that test.

Aladdin (2019) - Disney+

In this remake with actors of the children's animated classic (the one that Robin Williams had voiced in English in 1992), Smith is the genius who with his charm prevails over the equally remarkable works of Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott and Nasim Pedrad. The story of the lesser thief in love with the Sultan's daughter, who seeks the magic lamp to obtain the wishes that will allow him to conquer the girl, returns in an eccentric and luminous version in the hands of director Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes, The Gentlemen).

To the charm of the story included in The Thousand and One Nights, Smith adds an outgoing and crazy interpretation, with a never before seen exploration of his vocal skills. The film was in the Top 10 of the public favorites in 2019.

KEEP READING: