On the same week that Will Smith‘s latest Bad Boys flick, Ride or Die, is set to premiere on Netflix, it appears the Oscar-winning star will reunite with the original Bad Boys filmmaker. A new report from Deadline revealed that Michael Bay is circling the director’s job for Fast And Loose, Smith‘s upcoming action project at Netflix. It was previously rumored that David Leitch, who is fresh off directing Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt‘s stunt homage team-up film, The Fall Guy, was going to direct Fast And Loose, but it’s not been confirmed that Leitch will produce but not direct. Sugar Bandits was previously set to be Smith‘s next outing, but he recently dropped out of the film and now his reunion with Bay is likely to be both of their next projects, according to Deadline.
This is certainly a special reunion for both Bay and Smith, as the former made his directorial debut on Bad Boys in 1995, and Mike Lowrey is still considered arguably Smith‘s breakout role. It is also one of his most popular roles even now, nearly 30 years later, as Bad Boys: Ride or Die hauled in over $400 million at the worldwide box office on a reported budget of $100 million, and is certain to have a successful run on Netflix starting this week. Bay most recently directed Ambulance, the 2022 action thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Eiza González, and Yahyah Abdul-Mateen II, and has also been tapped to helm Robopocalypse, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller with a script from Drew Goddard (The Martian, Daredevil).
What Else Has Will Smith Been in Lately?
Before Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Smith starred alongside Ben Foster in Emancipation, the psychological thriller from director Antoine Fuqua. Prior to Emancipation, Smith toplined King Richard with Jon Bernthal and Tony Goldwyn, which was the project that won him his first Academy Award after previous nominations for his work in Ali and The Pursuit of Happiness. In 2020, Smith dropped his first Bad Boys film without Michael Bay, Bad Boys for Life, which was helmed by co-directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. Other than Fast and Loose, Smith has also been confirmed to star alongside Michael B. Jordan in I Am Legend 2.
Fast And Loose does not yet have an official release date, and it is unknown when it will begin production. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates on the project and watch Smith and Bay‘s first team-up, Bad Boys (1995), now streaming on Netflix.
via Collider