The streamer is now on the hunt for a new director.
Michael Bay; Will Smith.Credit: Chris Saucedo/SXSW Conference & Festivals via Getty; Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic
It looks like Michael Bay and Will Smith will have to wait for another opportunity for a Bad Boys reunion.
Entertainment Weekly has learned that Bay exited his role as director of Netflix’s upcoming action movie Fast and Loose over creative differences with Smith.
The film, announced last year, follows Smith character after he wakes up without his memories in Tijuana, Mexico.
As the character works to regain his missing memories, he learns that he has been living two lives as a criminal kingpin and an undercover CIA agent.
Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber, Chris Bremner, and Eric Pearson wrote the script, based on an initial pitch from the Hoebers.
Smith is pulling double duty as star and producer under his Westbrook Studios, alongside Kelly McCormick and David Leitch for 87North.
The movie was on track to start production in October, but will now be moved to 2026.
Will Smith in 2022.ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty
Fast and Loose would have served as a sweet reunion for Bay and Smith, whose star aligned with the former’s feature debut in 1995 that also launched Smith’s movie star career.
Bay reflected on the film’s hard-won origins with EW back in 2022, explaining the uphill battle he had selling it to studios.
“Sony didn’t believe in the movie, because two Black actors don’t sell overseas,” Bay said.
“They had no faith in it. I was watching James Cameron’s True Lies and I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, this guy has so much money.
I have only $9 million.’ And they shut me down, literally. They shut the power off. That’s how rude they were on this movie.”
Bay recalled how, during a van ride, his circular-shot idea came to him in a flash. “I’m like, ‘This is going to be the trailer shot.’
For some reason, I just came up with this shot as we’re driving. And I said, ‘Where’s the circle trolley? Get the circle trolley.’”
Starring Martin Lawrence and Smith, Bad Boys ended up hauling $141 million worldwide, with an impressive $75 million from international territories (ultimately more than U.S. audiences), a relative rarity.
“People try to imitate [the circular shot], but it was a seminal moment,” adds Bay.
“Bad Boys literally changed the game on Black actors. It’s the first movie that really traveled overseas.”
Michael Bay, Will Smith, Gabrielle Union, and Jerry Bruckheimer during a ‘Bad Boys II’ photo session in 2003.KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty
Bay also directed Bad Boys II (2003) and made cameos in the franchise’s other films.
In the third movie, Bad Boys for Life (2020), Bay played the emcee at the wedding of Marcus’ (Lawrence) daughter Megan (Bianca Bethune) and Reggie (Dennis McDonald).
Michael Bay’s character got on the microphone and introduced Mike (Smith), who got up to make an emotional speech during the reception.
In the latest entry, Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024), Bay drives by in a Porsche — seemingly a nod to Smith’s iconic pose from the first film that Bay directed — while Mike and Marcus are walking in the street, and tells them to get out of the road.
No one seems to recognize each other as Bay drives by, despite the fact that he was at Marcus’ daughter’s wedding not too long ago.
While he won’t be directing Smith for the Netflix flick, Bay has other projects to pursue, including a rumored return to the Transformers franchise with Paramount.
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