‘Six Levels of Separation’ (1993) with Will Smith and Stockard Channing.
Everett
Will Smith might have fallen in love with Stockard Channing on the set of 1993’s Six Levels of Separation, however Channing solely felt “motherly” to the rising star, who was 23 and a newly married, first-time father on the time.
Channing — who earned an Oscar nomination enjoying a New York socialite who connects with a younger con artist performed by Smith within the movie — opened up about working with the rising star in a brand new episode of The Hollywood Reporter‘s It Occurred in Hollywood podcast.
“He made lots [of money] from his music, and even Contemporary Prince [of Bel-Air],” Channing mentioned. “As a result of I bear in mind we talked about it.” Regardless of his large success in music and TV at a younger age, “there was no huge shot stuff in any respect” about Smith, she mentioned.
“He had an actual survival intuition in him,” Channing added, “which was fully good for the half. [There was a] real allure and a stunning sweetness about him.”
Previous to taking up the function of Paul — who convinces Channing’s Ouisa and her husband, Flan (Donald Sutherland), that he attends Harvard with their kids and is the son of Sidney Poitier — Smith flew to London with the movie’s director, Fred Schepisi, to see Channing play Ouisa within the stage model of Six Levels. “We went out to dinner afterwards,” recalled Channing, “and that was it.”
There was an immediate “chemistry” between the 2 actors when filming started in New York Metropolis in February 1992, Channing recalled. “[It was] simply pure and easygoing.”
In Smith’s 2021 memoir Will, the actor wrote of being newly married to then-wife Sheree Zampino and a brand new father to his first son, Trey, as manufacturing began up.
“Throughout taking pictures I fell in love with Stockard Channing,” Smith wrote. “After the movie wrapped, Sheree and Trey and I moved again to L.A. Our marriage was off to a rocky begin. I discovered myself desperately craving to see and converse to Stockard.”
For her half, “there was nothing that was between me and him. I felt very motherly in the direction of him. I preferred him lots. He was completely lovable. Only a sweetheart,” Channing instructed It Occurred in Hollywood host Seth Abramovitch.