Since the late 2000s, a third play centered on Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett was planned. However, the film took more than ten years to see the light, largely due to the demand of Will Smith.
bad boys for life : too old for this shit?
17 years after Michael Bay’s totally insane second play, Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowrey are back in action in bad boys for life. For this third part released in 2020, the director leaves the controls of the franchise born in 1995 to Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, to whom we owe Negro y gangster.
Still played by Martin Lawrence and Will Smith, the two Miami cops have aged well and Marcus is now thinking very seriously about hanging up, much to Mike’s annoyance. The latter suddenly sees the demons of the past reappear when the young drug dealer Armando Aretas (Jacob Scipio) kills him with several bullets.
While his partner convinces himself that this assassination attempt is the signal that it is time to lay down armsMike is determined to fight back. Helped by the new generation made up of Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig and Charles Melton, he understands that he is the goal of personal revenge orchestrated by an old acquaintance…
Joe Pantoliano, Paola Núñez, Theresa Randle, Nicky Jam, DJ Khaled and Kate Del Castillo complete the cast of bad boys for life. A project that puts more than ten years to completepartly due to the reluctance of Will Smith.
Joe Carnahan throws in the towel
In the late 2000s, Columbia Pictures called on Peter Craig to work on the script for a third episode of bad boys. Four years later, Peter Guggenheim is considered to resume writing, before Joe Carnahan takes the reins on the feature film in 2015.
Two years later, the director of Generosity y the territory of the wolves throw in the towel Regardless, he remains credited on the script alongside Peter Craig and Chris Bremner. asked by colliderJoe Carnahan hinted in 2019 that he left the film due to creative disputes with Will Smith :
It wasn’t in service of the story I really wanted to tell, which the studio had agreed to. And again, I don’t want to blame Will. It is his face and his name on the poster, which he has to do as he sees fit.
Will Smith particularly demanding
when promoting bad boys for life, Martin Lawrence confirms that his sidekick was especially picky about the script. During a question and answer session organized by Tidal, the actor said:
I didn’t want to make the movie until the script was right. He called me a month and said: ‘I think we’re there.’ Then he called me six months later and said, ‘We’re not there yet, but I think we’re almost there.’ He called me two years later: ‘We finally arrived’. And finally, we got there.
Words that match those of Will Smith, who toasts during the event:
He just didn’t want to destroy the franchise. I felt like I had already done other sequels that I didn’t want. I just wanted to protect this franchise, for the story to be correct, for us to have something to say, for it to be fun… The Bad Boys had to come back properly.
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