When actors discover they have tangible chemistry, there’s no real turning back. It’s bankable. It fuels the working relationship behind the scenes and on the big screen. And Will Smith has it with Martin Lawrence. It was on display for two Bad Boys movies, and the duo brought it out of the mothballs for this year’s mega-popular Bad Boys for Life. As a tribute to the bond shared between the actors, Smith recently dropped this video on his Instagram, tracing his and Martin’s journey through the years. It’s a tearjerker!
Accompanying the video is Will Smith’s sentiment that there’s “nobody in the world I’d rather get shot at with.” That happens a lot in the Bad Boys franchise, particularly in the most recent, Bad Boys for Life. Arriving in theaters nearly 20 years after the second movie graced the screens, the movie essentially picks up where the last one left off in terms of the chemistry shared between Marcus (Martin Lawrence) and Mike (Will Smith), and that’s the main reason why audiences flocked back.
This video is awesome because it shows how the duo grew through the years. It kicks off with footage of Smith and Lawrence at the L.A. premiere of Bad Boys for Life, then traces their long journey together, highlighting the bond that they have formed. It then moves to on-set footage of them, going all the way back to the original movie, with a very young Michael Bay zooming in on their fraternal relationship. Even Bay knew they were on to something special.
In the middle of the clip, Will Smith goes off on a tangent about moviemaking being that much more enjoyable when you get to do it with someone who you respect and love. Too often, we hear horror stories about cast members who don’t get along, and then have to do everything in their power to fake it when the cameras start rolling. This is not the case for these two, and we love to see it.
We’ll even love to see it again. After the robust box office performance of Bad Boys for Life, Sony has greenlit a fourth Bad Boys movie, and we assume this means Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are going to be back in the saddle. The most recent movie has posted more than $371 million in global tickets sold, so there’s life in the action franchise. And chemistry, to boot.
