Oscar winner, Will Smith, is exiting his co-starring role in the upcoming action movie Sugar Bandits. Deadline reports scheduling conflicts as the reason for Smith’s departure from the film, although he will remain part of the project as producer, with his production company Westbrook still attached. Smith was set to play a former special forces soldier who runs an elite vigilante squad working to wipe out the drug trade in Boston. The role will now be recast.
Sugar Bandits is based on the 2010 novel, Devils in Exile, written by New York Times best-selling author Chuck Hogan. The story follows Neal Maven, an embittered soldier returning from Iraq, who finds a new outlook when he meets Brad Royce, a fellow vet who has everything Neal wishes he had; a larger-than-life personality, charm, money, status, and his dream girl. Maven joins Royce’s team of “sugar bandits,” fellow veterans who use their military training to take down major drug deals in the Boston area, pocketing the money and destroying the product.
Stefano Sollima joined the project as director earlier this year. Sollima is known for the action/thrillers Without Remorse and Sicario: Day of the Soldado. Sugar Bandits reportedly sold for $80 million at the European Film Market and Cannes to distributors and Amazon Prime. The project was in pre-production, scouting locations in Montreal ahead of filming, which was expected to begin soon. It’s unclear whether the loss of Smith as lead will impact the distribution deal and release plans for Sugar Bandits. So far, there has been no official statement regarding those details.
Smith Returns to the Silver Screen
Will Smith returned to cinemas this summer with the latest sequel in the Bad Boys franchise. Bad Boys: Ride or Die is the fourth installment in the action series and brought in just over $400 million worldwide. Following Ride or Die’s sweep of the box office, Netflix has green lit Fast and Loose, a crime thriller they had previously put on hold following Smith’s Oscar slap incident. Smith plays the leader of a criminal organization, reuniting with his crew following a suspicious case of memory loss.
For fans who enjoy seeing Smith in dramatic or historical roles like Apple TV’s Emancipation, look out for his new Netflix crime drama, The Council. The series is based on the true story of crime syndicates and the black men who ruled Harlem in the 1970s and 80s. Smith is set to play Nicky Barnes, a crime boss deemed “Mr. Untouchable” on the cover of The New York Times.
Smith is also set to star alongside Michael B. Jordan in an upcoming sequel to the 2007 zombie thriller I Am Legend. The original film was an adaptation of author Richard Matheson’s post-apocalyptic novel of the same name. While Smith’s character dies at the end of the original theatrical release, fans will recall the alternate ending in subsequent DVD releases. The sequel will continue the story using this ending, which was always seen as a more popular outcome following its release.
You can watch
Bad Boys
and
Bad Boys II
on Netflix.
