This weekend, Philly’s Will Smith is looking great to bring home his first Oscar award for his role in King Richard.
When Sunday night’s Academy Awards spills over from its red carpet to the ABC Network screen, my guess/prediction/bet is that Philly will come out of the weekend victorious. Not just for Questlove’s Summer of Soul directorial debut as the 2022 Best Documentary, but too for West Philly’s Will Smith.
For fans of Oscar award ceremonies, Will Smith has been here before with Best Actor nods for Ali, and The Pursuit of Happyness. This time, however, in the titular role of Williams’ sisters’ tennis father, King Richard, his grizzled and athletic acting abilities are more innate, more lived-in than anything he’s done in the past. I mean, I liked him as Muhammad Ali, but I didn’t believe he was The Greatest. This time out, for King Richard, I bought that he was/is that concerned and dedicated father and motivator.
Even Smith has more faith in King Richard than he did his other nominated roles, as he told CinemaBlend mag, “I guess the biggest surprise so far for me with this film is how unanimous the reaction is to the film. I’ve made 30 years’ worth of movies and there’s never been this kind of blanket agreement that it’s a good movie. I’ve made things that, I would read opposing reviews and I’m like, ‘Did they even look at the same movie?’ you know, with Ali and with The Pursuit of Happyness. Just how many people agree that it’s a good movie is a big surprise for me.”
If he doesn’t win an Oscar, he still comes out of the 2022 award season with a SAG for Best Actor as well as an award at the NBR Gala.
Besides, Will Smith still has plenty of juice to come with this coming week’s Peacock streamer/livestream app NTWRK partnership to give away a piece of chill Will’s Fresh Prince history.
NBC’s Peacock will partner with NTWRK for an exclusive collection of the Smith-produced Bel-Air and a new set of series-inspired sneakers, some actual used props from the recent series filming in Philly and Los Angeles, as well as Bel-Air show wardrobe, and fan collectibles. All of the proceeds go towards Coded by Kids – a Philadelphia-based tech education nonprofit that focuses on tech startup-focused entrepreneurship programs for underrepresented groups.
We can’t give away all of the details of the sale/benefit yet, beyond that it will start on March 30, but, be on the lookout at dosage MAGAZINE for further contest/auction details.
Other than that, and to go with today’s warm weather, let’s leave you with one of my Top Ten favorite sunshine songs: “Summertime,” from the Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff.
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