Page 55 - Will Smith: A Biography of a Rapper Turned Movie Star

Six Degrees of the Fresh Prince
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effort into the album. Except for a greatest-hits collection
released in 1998, Code Red was the last album the Fresh
Prince and Jazzy Jeff did together.
Music aside, Smith’s acting career was about to take off.
For one thing, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was having a better
year than its first. Over the course of the 1991–1992
television season, the show finished in the ratings as the
twenty-second most watched program.7
Movie producers now considered Smith ready to take on his
first costarring movie role. The part he selected was very unlike
him, and some friends thought he was making a huge mistake. Six
Degrees of Separation is based on a Broadway play, which itself is
based loosely on a true story. As Paul, the lead character, Smith
plays a young gay man. Paul is a con artist who charms his way into
the lives of the Kittredges, a wealthy white couple in New York City.
Paul claims to be the son of the famous actor Sidney Poitier. He also
tells the Kittredges that he is acquainted with their children. In
reality, he has never even met Poitier—to say nothing of being
related to him—and does not know the Kittredges’ children.
The movie explores a number of themes. One is that even
intelligent people can be easily deceived. Another is
homosexuality. A third is race relations. Six Degrees of
Separation points out that some white people make automatic
judgments about African Americans. Whites are often fearful
of letting blacks into their homes, supposing they might be
criminals. However, the Kittredges feel safe with Paul because
he is clean-cut and well spoken. Yet despite his well-mannered
appearance, he is a thief who takes advantage of them.