Will Smith was confronted by Sir Ian McKellen after he refused to kiss a man for part of a film role back in 1993.
The Hollywood star had been supposed to kiss his co-star Anthony Michael Hall for the film Six Degrees Of Separation, but flat-out refused.
The film was a comedy-drama based on the true story of a gay hustler called David Hampton, though his character was named Paul.
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Stockard Channing and Donald Sutherland played the wealthy gay couple which Will’s character Paul targeted, and he had been keen to try and impress the veteran stars.
But he couldn’t commit to method acting when the script required him to kiss his male co-star – and he was confronted by Sir Ian McKellen, who is openly gay and was also in the same movie.
(Image: Getty Images)
Speaking to Time Out London a number of years later, the actor said: “[Will] arrived for the read-through with a huge entourage – his family, his agent, his publicity person, his acting coach, his nanny.
“He was a charmer, and a good actor. But he did one silly thing: he refused to kiss another boy on -screen, even though it was there in the script.
(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
“Which was why, at an early previous, I met him in public outside the cinema and gave him a great big kiss on the lips.”
He didn’t open up about how Will had reacted, but the former Fresh Prince star spoke of the kiss that never was back in 1993.
Will told Entertainment Weekly: “It was very immature on my part.
(Image: Getty Images)
“I was thinking, ‘How are my friends in Philly going to think about this?’ I wasn’t emotionally stable enough to artistically commit to that aspect of the film…
“This was a valuable lesson for me. Either you do it, or you don’t.”
At the time, Will was already known for his role on The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air, as well as a handful of other movies.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
