Page 61 - Will Smith: A Biography of a Rapper Turned Movie Star

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T he movie Batman Forever was being cast in 1994.
The actor Val Kilmer had been signed to play
Batman, but the role of his sidekick, Robin, was
still open. Smith, who wanted to be in an action movie, would
have loved to get the part. The trouble was that Smith was one
of many actors who wanted to play Robin. The role went to
character actor Chris O’Donnell, who had gotten rave reviews
in 1993 for his supporting role in Scent of a Woman.
Smith has not always gotten the roles he wanted, but
he does not attribute it to racism. Smith says, “The execs
don’t care about what color you are, they care about how
much money you make. Hollywood is not really black or
Bad Boys and
Alien Invaders
Chapter 6