Will Smith on his greatest failure and why he decided to play Deadshot

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Given that Will Smith and Margot Robbie are making the rounds together for their latest film, FOCUS, you can imagine that they're answering A LOT of questions regarding David Ayer's SUICIDE SQUAD. While there doesn't seem to be too much to report on their end due to the lack of an actual script, Will Smith did open up about his biggest cinematic failure as well as why he decided to take the leap and play Deadshot.

Will Smith on the lowest moment in his career:

That was the most painful failure in my career. WILD WILD WEST was less painful than AFTER EARTH because my son was involved in AFTER EARTH and I led him into it. That was excruciating. What I learned from that failure is how you win. I got reinvigorated after the failure of AFTER EARTH. I stopped working for a year and a half. I had to dive into why it was so important for me to have number-one movies. And I never would have looked at myself in that way.

Why he took the role of Deadshot:

I guess I like the concept of dubious morals. I always liked to play in that area. With SUICIDE SQUAD, we just started on that. I think I haven't explored the psychology enough of Deadshot, somebody who could take money to kill people; how he justifies that for himself. So, I still have a little bit of work to do on that, but in my life in general and in my career, those are the type of roles that I'm pushing more towards; those kinds of questions.

So does AFTER EARTH top the Smith shit list for you? I can safely say that I enjoyed it less than the mess that was WILD WILD WEST. Either way, the man needs a hit and FOCUS looks to be it. My only qualm with Smith are the comments we've read regarding why he didn't take the lead in DJANGO UNCHAINED. Perhaps he feels a little differently now, but I'm hoping any issues he might have with SQUAD aren't changed just because he doesn't agree with it.

SUICIDE SQUAD hits theaters on August 5, 2016.

This may be anyone's reaction now if M. Night Shyamalan chooses to direct a property they hold near and dear.