Director goes public with ‘crazy’ Will Smith on-set feud

The director of one of Will Smith’s biggest movie hits is speaking out, revealing he and the star were at war during filming.

Hitch director Andy Tennant says working with Will Smith was quite the “wild ride.”

Tennant revealed in a recent interview with Business Insider that he and the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air actor didn’t get along while collaborating on the hit 2005 romantic comedy, which also starred Kevin James and Eva Mendes.

The director, 69, said he and Smith, 56, had disagreements about the creative direction of the film from the very beginning.

“I didn’t want cheap jokes, but he didn’t trust me,” Tennant said in the interview published Tuesday, noting that they went back and forth about the script throughout the filming process.

According to Tennant, Smith “tried to back out” of the project just three days before they started shooting.

The director has claimed Smith (left, with Kevin James) tried to back out of the movie just days before filming started.

“He wanted to shut down and work on it some more,” he told the outlet. “It was madness.”

Although they “had [their] difficulties,” Tennant admitted that their differing opinions ultimately made the movie stronger in the end.

“The movie I wanted to make and the movie Will wanted to make neither one of those movies is as good as the movie we made together,” he said. “It was a battle.”

Tennant credited the star’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, for being “a big help” behind the scenes.

“She kind of seconded some of my instincts,” Tennant told the outlet. “There was a time during prep when I was pushing back. A lot of crazy s**t that was happening.”

The director said Smith’s wife Jada was a “big help” behind the scenes. Picture: VALERIE MACON / AFP

The Sweet Home Alabama director said Will came to him with a lot of “crazy story ideas,” including a full “draft” that he “was not a fan of.”

“I finally told the studio that I was more afraid of Will making that version of the movie than I was about them firing me,” he revealed. “Because I knew they were right on the edge of firing me before we even began shooting. And to Will’s credit, we didn’t go with that draft. I don’t think I was ever in anyone’s favour.”

Thankfully, things slightly improved once they started shooting.

“It was a bunch of good creative people doing the best they could,” Tennant said.

However, they were still constantly changing the script — even scrapping entire scenes on the day of filming.

Tennant revealed that Will’s famous front porch kiss with James was “just an idea” concocted that morning.

“We didn’t have a location to shoot this. We didn’t have permission. We had nothing,” Tenant said.

Smith and Hitch co-star Eva Mendes in 2005. Picture: AFP PHOTO/Juan BARRETO

20 years later, director Andy Tennant is speaking out.

The crew unknowingly stumbled upon a beautiful brownstone and “knocked on the door to see if [they] could get permission to shoot there.”

“It turned out to be Sarah Jessica Parker’s house,” he said. “So she was like, ‘Hi!’ And we were like, ‘Hi, can we shoot on your doorstep?’ And she was like, ‘Ah, yeah.’”

Following weeks of similar impromptu shoots, Tennant left filming feeling defeated.

“I swear to God, when we wrapped that movie, I called my wife and said, ‘I’ve just ruined my career, and I’ve ruined Will Smith’s career,’” he reflected.

He said the Bad Boys actor “felt the same way” and “walked off the set” without saying goodbye.

“He thought this movie is a disaster,” the screenwriter recalled. “We wrapped and it was depressing,”

Tennant (L) talking to actress Reese Witherspoon on the set of another of his movie hits, Sweet Home Alabama.

However, the editors later called him and told him it was not only salvageable but actually “hilarious.”

“I think I started crying,” Tennant said.

He later reunited with Will at “a test screening in Vegas,” where they were met with rave reviews.

“The movie ends and the audience has completely embraced the movie,” he said. “People were cheering when the movie ended.”

Following a “great” worldwide press junket, the movie was released around Valentine’s Day with the biggest opening weekend ever for a rom-com at the time — earning over $US371 million.

“I don’t have anything against Will,” Tennant said. “He hired me to make this movie. It was not an easy job for anybody, but we went around the world with the movie.”

“And when it was over, my time with Will was over. That was it. And I have never heard from him since.”

Reps for the I Am Legend actor did not immediately respond to our request for comment.

This story originally appeared on Page Six and is republished here with permission.

Originally published as Director goes public with ‘crazy’ Will Smith on-set feud