I think I’ve only seen Ali once. But I remember liking it a lot, and thinking it was one of Will Smith’s best films at the time, and that he was very worthy of his Oscar nomination that year. In addition to Will, the cast included Jon Voight, Mario Van Peebles, Jamie Foxx, Jeffrey Wright, Jada Pinkett, Michael Michele and actor/comedian Paul Rodriguez as Dr. Ferdie Pacheco. In real life, Pacheco was Muhammad Ali’s personal physician, and basically part of Ali’s entourage. Pacheco is still alive, and during the filming of Ali, he stopped by the set and apparently got into it with Will Smith. And that’s how Will Smith and Paul Rodriguez had a falling out. Seriously.
Back in the ring. Paul Rodriguez is not a fan of Will Smith. The actor called out his Ali costar for his on-set behavior during a recent interview with San Diego’s Rock 105.3 radio station.
“I’ve done a couple of films with him, and this time we didn’t end up so good,” Rodriguez, 61, said on Friday, February 19. “I’d never work with him again. He was an a–hole.”
Rodriguez portrayed Dr. Ferdie Pacheco in the 2001 biopic about Muhammad Ali, which starred Smith as the title character. Rodriguez claims that trouble began when the real Pacheco, Ali’s former physician, allegedly came to set drunk.
“He goes into Will Smith’s trailer and he’s upset that his part isn’t bigger and that I’m playing him. He wanted Andy Garcia to play him,” the comedian told Rock 105.3. “It escalated to the point where he started using the N-word to Will . . . and the police had to escort him off the set. From then on, Will never looked at me the same.”
Smith, 47 — who was nominated for an Oscar for his work in the film — reportedly then lashed out at Rodriguez. Rodriguez is still confused by the situation and why Smith took out his aggression on him.
“He started saying really offensive stuff to me,” Rodriguez claimed. “He said, ‘You’re a long way from anybody that likes you.’ I said, ‘Where’s that coming from?’ There was no cause to insult me or berate me.”
I think there are three solid possibilities. Theory #1: You know when you don’t like someone so much that even their relatives are persona non grata? Like, Will just associated the actor playing Pacheco with the real Pacheco and he couldn’t get past it. Theory #2: Will is an idiot and he really didn’t know the difference between the actor and the real guy. Theory #3: Will was going full-on Method and doing some Ali-style smack talking and it got out of hand. Anyway, I don’t want to believe that Will Smith was such a rude a—hole, but what reason would Paul Rodriguez have to lie? I mean, it’s not like he’s some Kanye-style beef machine who thrives on drama. He’s just telling his side of the story. Sigh…
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I thought there was some rumor about Will taking steroids during filming to get buffed up? But even beside that, I can imagine him being a jerk behind closed doors. I really enjoy many of his films, but as a person, the way he has raised those kids doesn’t reflect well.
I’m pretty sure steroids…err sorry…supplements are being used in Hollywood. And God knows what else to bulk up these actors for “superhero” roles. Look at the timelines. We all know some of these guys aren’t doing it the right way (ie the long way). Sadly nothing will change until one of these guys suffers a health issue…or worse.
I don’t even health consequences are going to change anything. Just look at extreme weight gain/loss cases. Everyone knows it is very bad, yet it is almost a right of passage of a serious actor to do at least one role like this.
As someone who was given steroids along with chemo for cancer,twice, these people need to know they destroy your eyes as you age! Two cataract surgeries and now the lens are clouding! Steroid damage! So stupid! Everything you ingest gas a result!
Hope you’re better, girl
Hope u r OK now, sending blessings your way
I am rather surprised by this story. With the exception of the issues Will had with Janet Hubert on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. I can not recall any other stories or problems on a tv/ movie set with Will. There must be more to this.
Or people are afraid to speak out against him.
Yea, I call b.s. on Paul Rodriguez for one reason, we’ll call it Reason #4:
Paul is the Hispanic Herman Cain of the Republican party now. It behooves him to denigrate ‘Hollywood liberals.’ He might be aiming to get a Stacey Dash like slot on Fox news.
Will of course has faced much side eye from the rightwing anti-PC crowd for contributing to the #oscarsSoWhite discussion (really his wife has more than he) which conservatives naturally dislike.
So coming out against Will Smith for some vague reason (‘Waaah, Will was mean to me while ‘in character, waaah’) – while bizarrely NOT criticizing the guy who calls Will the n-word, says a lot about who Rodriguez is now.
^ This. I’ve seen Paul Rodriquez on Bill Maher several times, and I am inclined to believe the problem is with him.
That’s painting with a broad brush. I am a conservative and the Oscar’s discussion bothers me not in the least.
Oh. I see. He’s a Republican. Therefore he is a liar and cannot be trusted to tell the truth.
If he was a Democrat then his story would have more credence.
I mentioned this down thread – will is charming but when he gets off script, he’s a nutjob. I watched him tell Barbara Walters once that he thinks the federal government created AIDS in a lab to kill off black people. That’s a very paranoid, illogical thing to think, much less say out loud. So him associating Paul with pechecko in some paranoid way isn’t too far a stretch.
Well, when you consider the Tuskegee experiments……….
/sarcasm
Yes, well the fact that the tuskegee experiments happened, as did MK Ultra, makes other ‘conspiracy’ theories plausible-in theory. Not saying Will isn’t nutty, but it’s funny how people always mock anyone questioning the norm, as though magically, there’s no possible way that the powers that be could be doing anything wrong now. Yes, in other countries, those in power abuse their positions. And in the USA, that happened in the (recent) past. But not anymore, right? Sure, it’s absolutely nutty to even question. /sarcasm #justsayin
Sounds like Will is channeling a cat condition called redirected feline aggression. It’s when a cat sees something it wants to attack and can’t. If any living thing gets into its space when it’s in that state, it will attack the living thing instead. It’s a function of the cat having very little in the way of executive function in its wee brain. Wonder what Will’s excuse is…..
http://consciouscat.net/2012/03/12/redirected-aggression-when-good-cats-attack/
Probably his wee brain.
to be fair to Will, I do this all the time!
All the time? Yikes! You must be fun to be around.
My cats are highly offended by the characterization of the their brains as “wee”. They’re coming for you, cannibell!
Mine r too, they have all the humans in their life well trained
Cats are actually very intelligent creatures. I’ve had two and they are smarter and nicer then some people I know. To project aggression on an innocent party because it isn’t possible to direct it onto the guilty party is a very typical human behaviour. Mad at the boss but can’t direct aggression at them so redirect it to spouse after coming home and yelling at the spouse (a safe target) instead. Typical human.
Remember that TNT show Jada had? Rumor was she and Will (who were producers) insisted on randomly firing 3/4s of the writers. I know he’s got a nice guy thing but I can buy him having a mean streak if he doesn’t get his way. Same thing when he tried to get Tarantino to change the whole arc of Django Unchained before Foxx was cast
Reese Witherspoon was a “nice girl” for YEARS. Now we know.
I don’t buy his dopy laughing nice buy bit at ALL. He’s an ass hole and Jada just shows her bitchiness up front.
They are both assholes.
This story is really stretching with excuses on their behavior. They are jerks, there is no method acting. Just jerks.
You make a good point. The only thing I would argue is what you’re saying about Jada. So many people say this about her but I have yet to hear any evidence of this.
Um how about the fact that she only spoke up about the Oscars so white situation after her husband did not get an Oscar. That was self-serving to say the least.
Have we not learned from the Independence Day sequel debacle that Will Smith throws his weight around when he wants his way regardless of reason or logic? That whole thing has me wondering if the only reason Jada was in Django was because Will demanded it.
I agree they’re both not people to trust IRL. They don’t seem to have any “softening” perspective on life. The niceness is part of their self-interest. Every time you hear them talk it’s about being successful and self-help-ish. Anyone who thinks The Alchemist is a profound take on life needs to read more books.
JenniferJustice: So because she spoke the TRUTH she’s a bad person? Not buying it. I discussed the subject extensively in the Jada #oscarssowhite post and I don’t feel like rehashing it. But whether it was self-serving or not, Jada’s statements were thoughtful, respectful and CORRECT. She has a good reputation and I’ve never heard any complaints about her being a nasty or mean person. Even when she comes back here, to her hometown of Baltimore (where I live) people have nothing but good things to say about her.
@ HADLEYB-
Remember when Tom Cruise was also “one of the nicest guys in Hollywood, a wonderful father and devoted husband” ?!?!?
I’m not even bringing the $cientology aspect into the discussion, just BS PR aspects…
Or possibility #4: Will Smith is and always has been an egomaniacal jerk.
Evidence, exhibit a. Jaden Smith, exhibit b. Willow Smith, exhibit C. Marriage to narcissist Jada Pinkett Smith. Case closed.
I think we’ll find out there is much more to this story than Will Smith ‘suddenly, for no reason’ lashing out at Paul Rodriguez.
This. Please use more critical thinking, folks.
Yep. I seriously doubt this is the whole story, I’m not sure why its being accepted wholesale. We should be asking if there was even a snubbing and secondly if it was groundless. Thirdly and most importantly, why is he talking about it now? I ask because every single time somebody stands up for a cause, race or gender related, somebody somewhere lashes out at the messenger because they cant win against the argument. Its like “that feminist was a meanie to her employees, lets all focus on that instead of what she is saying about equality”. Most of the time its just good old smearing.
Yes, in the story above it states Rodriguez admits \the real Pacheco, Ali’s former physician, allegedly came to set drunk and wanted his part to be bigger and called Smith the N word. I think Smith handled it well by having the guys escorted off the set. So if that’s why Rodriguez has an issue with Smith which he basically says by saying he never saw Smith as the same after that well he sounds like the one with the problem not Smith.
You need to read the story again. It was Will who started treating Paul differently after the incident.
That’s not what he said. He said that Will Smith never looked at Paul Rodriguez the same after the Pacheco incident. Like he was unable to separate Paul Rodriguez from the part he was playing.
You need to work on your reading and comprehension, Roses.
to be fair, my reading comprehension had a brain fart this morning, too.
That’s not at all what Paul said. You conventiently left out the part where Paul said about Will “He started saying really offensive stuff to me,” Rodriguez claimed. “He said, You’re a long way from anybody that likes you.” That has nothing to do with the having drunk dude hauled away. I’m wondering if maybe Will wanted Andy Garcia to play that role as well.
Bingo. +1
I don’t know if there is much more. Actors are egomaniacal narcissists, very little can set them off. Will is off to begin with, anyways. I watched him do an interview with Barbara Walters once where he declared that the federal government created AIDS in a lab to kill off black people. He’s not working with a full deck.
This completely. This guy sounds bitter.
Well he got that off of his chest 15 years after the fact. Let it go pal, although Andy Garcia would have been a good choice. Will seems like a likeable enough guy, but who knows what goes on behind the scenes. They can all sit down and talk about it at the Oscars….oops no they can’t, forgot Jada and Will are boycotting.
I don’t know. Could be a number of reasons, and could be that the real Pacheco told him that Paul said something about Will or whatever, and he then lashed out. Could be things blown out of proportion, could be a number of possibilities, especially considering this was 16+ years ago.
Also, if he were such a huge asshole, we would have heard by now I think. I know there are rumors here and there, but I don’t know, I’m on the fence. Maybe it was just a bad episode with people who never got along in the first place.
Sometimes things can get rough after so much tension.
Yeah, my first thought was, “what did the drunk doc say?”
15 years?
If that a-hole doctor was using the n-word and Rodriguez didn’t stand up for will or tell him cut it out then I can understand Will’s anger
What? It was just will and the doctor in the trailer. Rodriguez wasn’t there, he just knows what happened. How can you standup for someone if you’re not even present?
Will has an excellent PR firm. Nice guys don’t have arrest records for assault.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2216135/Will-Smith-1989-mugshot-connection-attack-left-man-blind.html
Also: aside from Aunt Viv, weren’t there rumors about he and Kevin Kline fighting on set during Wild Wild West?
Bingo!
It seems like the air could easily be cleared if both parties wanted it to be. I have questions too about how an exchange between a movie star and a washed up, drunk, has-been doctor could escalate on a movie set to the point that the doctor was in the actor’s face, and calling the actor the n word. It seems security would be on the set to keep this from happening.
To be a Hollywood star you’ve got to have a specific personality ‘all about me’ you don’t get success in being nice. They just play nice in interviews and such.
But There are a few genuinely nice people like Jessica Chastain, Channing tatum, Rachel McAdams etc.
Interesting… I wouldn’t doubt it. You just never know if actors are truly the way they present themselves to be. I do find it interesting that he says he worked with Will a few other times, but he didn’t show himself to be an a hole until Ali.
This is one guy’s version of events–Why are we taking it as gospel? Not that it’s hard for me to believe that actors can be aholes but come on…doesn’t anybody think this story is just a tad bizarre? Like, Smith got so worked up that he started conflating an actor with the character he plays? Um…huh? I think there’s likely more to this story. At the very least, it seems a bit unprofessional to be talking sh*t about a former co-worker to the press.
I think there’s probably more to this story as well. There’s almost ALWAYS more to any story. Will Smith has a pretty good reputation. At the same time I wouldn’t deny that he was a jerk and he might have just had one or two days where he was in a bad mood or acted like an a hole… I certainly have my days lol.
I’m having one of those days today, Almond! Lol
LOL I refuse to believe it!
I think this sounds strange – 15 years later- and feels like a piece is missing somewhere. Innocent until proven guilty, but this doesn’t do it for me. He also makes it sound like he never tried to clear the air with Will at the time, like he’s doing it now through the media.
Thanks Veronica. This attack has been mentioned in passing but I didn’t see the whole story. Mark Wahlberg has a past like this. He viciously attacked two men, blinding one. It was an outrage that he expected a pardon for a law enforcement appiintment in LA. Horrible.
Theory #4: Rodriguez is an extra special kind of thirsty to be complaining about this FIFTEEN YEARS LATER.