Will Smith and Tom Cruise have a lot in common.
The pair are two of the biggest movie stars in the world, who’ve spawned iconic action franchises - and are just as at home playing fun roles as killing it in dramatic films.
Another connection to the tally is that just like Tom Cruise, Will Smith doesn’t let serious leg injuries stop him finishing a scene.
Famously, Cruise broke his ankle whilst filming Mission Impossible: Fallout but finished the shot - and it made it into the film.
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Speaking exclusively to UNILAD, Bad Boys: Ride or Die directors told us that Smith did the exact same in the newest sequel to the iconic franchise.
Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah were the directorial team behind the film, and El Arbi told us that Will hurt himself filming a scene that was reminiscent of a previous instalment in the series.
“Will got hurt," said El Arbi. "Will had something with his leg. He just kept on running and didn’t say anything at the time.
“He’s really running on a bridge in Miami, the same as in the first Bad Boys from 20-30 years ago. It’s beautiful to see that passion and dedication.”
Fallah added: “The next day he came in and it was in cast, and we were like ‘oh what happened!’
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The pair confirmed that the shot in which Smith tore a muscle in his leg made it into the final cut of the film.
Despite being 55 and 59 respectively, Adil and Bilall told us that Smith and his co-star, Martin Lawrence, were highly involved in doing the stunts on this newest film.
“They would always do the first takes themselves. Even though we'd say ‘ahhh I don't know about that'," El Arbi continued.
“They were like no, no, we got to do it, we’ve got to try it.
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“Obviously when it's super dangerous, you need stunt people to do it. But they would always try to do it.”
He went on to say that one scene in the film in which a Chinook helicopter goes upside down had Lawrence actually doing the stunt.
El Arbi said: “We were like ‘you sure you want to do this Martin? Yes, yes I’ll do everything.’”
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Fallah went on to say: “With Will and Martin, they were training a lot for this one. The themes of the movie are very important for them to as people because there's a lot of parallel between what's happening in the movie and in real life.
“Martin was the whole time boxing, training, because he knew that this time he was going to do a lot of action and it's part of his character.
“Will is always ready to go, ready to run, ready to do it and show us youngens that they still got it and I think that’s what makes this movie so energetic and cool, that it's proving that they still got it.”
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Considering I’m in my 20s and would curl up in a ball and cry if I got that injury, Will finishing the shot so well it makes it into the film proves he’s still got it.
Bad Boys Ride or Die releases tomorrow, June 5.
Topics: Film and TV, Tom Cruise, Will Smith
Michael Slavin