Will Smith made producing ‘Hitch’ a battle, movie's director says

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While the Will Smith-led romantic comedy "Hitch" may seem easygoing, making it was anything but, the director revealed this week. 

Andy Tennant, who had just directed the 2002 Reese Witherspoon classic rom-com "Sweet Home Alabama," told Business Insider this week he and Smith constantly butted heads while they were in pre-production for 2005’s "Hitch." 

"I didn't want cheap jokes, but he didn't trust me," Tennant told the outlet in an interview published Wednesday.

"We had our difficulties. The movie I wanted to make and the movie Will wanted to make — neither one of those movies is as good as the movie we made together. It was a battle."

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While the Will Smith-led romantic comedy "Hitch" may seem easygoing, making it was anything but, the director revealed this week.? (Stephane Cardinale/Corbis via Getty Images)

He told the outlet that, three days before they were scheduled to start shooting the movie, Smith tried to shut it down so he could keep working on the script. 

"I think there was a lot of fear doing a big, expensive romantic comedy with Will," Tennant admitted. "It was fraught with peril. Will tried to back out three days before we started shooting. He wanted to shut down and work on it some more. It was madness."

But the "Ever After" director said once they started shooting "Hitch," "it was a bunch of good creative people doing the best they could. There were some debates, but there were things that turned out really funny. You keep all the really fun stuff, you have a good movie. But it was a wild ride."

At one point before shooting started, he said, Smith approached him with a draft of the script that he didn’t love. 

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"There was a draft that Will brought in that I was not a fan of," Tennant said. "I finally told the studio that I was more afraid of Will making that version of the movie than I was about them firing me. Because I knew they were right on the edge of firing me before we even began shooting. And, to Will's credit, we didn't go with that draft. I don't think I was ever in anyone's favor." 

Will Smith and Eva Mendes filming the jet ski scene from "Hitch."? (Lawrence Lucier/FilmMagic)

Tennant also credited co-star Kevin James with convincing Smith to do the movie’s scene in which the two men have an accidental kiss while Smith’s dating coach character is telling James how to go most of the way for a kiss with the girl he likes. 

The crew inadvertently ended up on the doorstep of Sarah Jessica Parker’s New York brownstone, and she let them shoot there for a scene that was not originally in the script. 

"Will started saying stuff about the 90 and 10: a man goes 90% of the way, and the woman goes 10% on a first kiss," Tennant said of the impromptu scene. "So, we messed with that for a bit, and then someone came up with the keys jingling. Then Kevin was riffing on some stuff. It was all just an idea."

Will Smith and Andy Tennant with the rest of the cast of "Hitch," including Amber Valletta, Eva Mendes and Kevin James.? (Stephane Cardinale/Corbis via Getty Images)

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Tennant said he wrote the scene on the fly with one of the producers that afternoon, but "Will was still worried about the scene. Kevin James told him, ‘It's really funny. It's going to be a good scene.’ And, thank God for Kevin, because he got Will to shoot it.’

"That scene is 5? pages long, written on that day. It's one of the best scenes in the movie," he said. "We shot a 5?-page scene in three hours and then went to dinner with Amy Pascal."

Pascal was the chairman of Sony at the time. 

Tennant said Smith also didn’t want to do the film’s Ellis Island scene in which Smith’s character takes Eva Mendes to the historical location to show her some information about her ancestor who immigrated to the U.S. 

Will Smith with Tennant and the cast of "Hitch." (John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images)

"Will didn't want to do it because he said Black people didn't come through Ellis Island," Tennant explained. "I begged him to come out to Ellis Island so I could at least pitch it. It was me, Will, some of the production people, and Will's producing partner, James Lassiter, who is his best friend. So, I'm trying to save the sequence, and, lo and behold, we find out that James' family came through Ellis Island. So, that's why that scene is in the movie."

He said Smith was a great sport about the sequence when he has to jump in the water after his character accidentally kicks Mendes off her jet ski — even though Smith didn’t know how to swim. 

"The other thing everyone was worried about was that Will can't swim, so they didn't want to put a $20 million movie star in the water. And Will was like, ‘No, just give me the life vest,’" he said. 

"We had our difficulties. The movie I wanted to make and the movie Will wanted to make — neither one of those movies is as good as the movie we made together. It was a battle."

— Andy Tennant

He said when they wrapped Smith didn’t say goodbye to him. 

"I think he felt the same way I did. He thought this movie is a disaster," he said. "We wrapped, and it was depressing."

But they were both wrong. 

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"When we saw it for the first time, it was with a test screening in Vegas, and I had Will Smith to my left and Amy Pascal to my right, which was a horrifying place to be," Tennant admitted. "The movie ends, and the audience has completely embraced the movie. People were cheering when the movie ended."

Will Smith in a scene from "Hitch" after he falls off the top of Eva Mendes' car while professing his love to her as she tries to drive away from him.? (Ian Wingfield/Getty Images)

He said Pascal turned to him and said, "‘You're done. Box it and ship it.’ That was our first and last test screening. We tested higher than any other movie they had at the time. It was nuts."

The movie ended up making $371 million worldwide. 

Tennant said he doesn’t hold a grudge. 

"I don't have anything against Will," he stressed. "He hired me to make this movie. It was not an easy job for anybody, but we went around the world with the movie. Even the hard times he'd always say, ‘Wait until the junket. We're gonna go around the world with this.' And we did, and it was great. It was the most amazing trip I had ever been on.

"And when it was over, my time with Will was over. That was it. And I have never heard from him since."

"The Bounty Hunter" director said he also had an idea for a "Hitch" sequel but found out that Smith was planning his own without him.

"I submitted a proposal for a sequel, which was quite fun, but I guess Will is developing a ‘Hitch’ sequel without me," he said. "I just found out about it three months ago. I had a really good idea for a sequel, and I was talking to an executive at Sony, and he said Will’s production company is developing a sequel. Hey, that’s Hollywood."

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Fox News Digital has reached out to reps for Smith for comment.