威尔史密斯拍摄《全民情敌》幕后故事
《全民情圣》（Hitch）是2000年代最流畅、最成功的浪漫喜剧之一——如果你听过这部电影的幕后故事，可能根本不会相信这一点。导演安迪·坦纳特（Andy Tennant）终于在影片即将迎来20周年之际，揭开了这段往事。“拍一部昂贵的大制作浪漫喜剧，而且主演还是威尔·史密斯，这让人非常紧张。”这位还曾执导过另一部浪漫喜剧经典《甜家辣妹》（Sweet Home Alabama）的导演，近日在接受《商业内幕》（Business Insider）采访时这样说道。
虽然拍浪漫喜剧是威尔·史密斯自己的主意，但坦纳特透露，整个制作过程“危机四伏”。史密斯甚至“在开拍前三天差点退出。他想停下来重写剧本。那真是一场疯狂……我们争论了很多，但也做出了一些非常搞笑的东西。只要保留那些有趣的部分，就能成就一部好电影。但过程真的像坐过山车。”
到2000年代中期，史密斯已凭《黑衣人》《拳王阿里》《绝地战警》等作品跻身一线巨星，但他从未出演过浪漫喜剧。那么他为什么要在那时尝试？
坦纳特解释说，制片厂曾告诉史密斯：“黑人主演的浪漫喜剧在海外卖得不好。” 史密斯把这当成了挑战——商业头脑极强的他想要打破这种偏见，扩大自己的影响力。
最终，他的确打破了障碍。《全民情圣》以7000万美元的预算，斩获全球3.7亿美元票房（其中海外票房高达1.92亿美元）。然而，这条成功之路充满坎坷。
“我们经历了不少困难。”坦纳特回忆说，当时史密斯的妻子贾达·萍克特·史密斯（Jada Pinkett Smith）“帮了很大的忙”。“我想拍的电影，和威尔想拍的电影，其实都不如我们最后共同完成的那一部。那是一场拉锯战。”
其中一场“战役”就是——他们拍摄威尔与搭档凯文·詹姆斯（Kevin James）之间那场关键的“门前告白戏”时，压根没找到拍摄地点。更疯狂的是，那场戏是在拍摄当天才写出来的。
“我们当时连拍摄许可都没有，什么都没有。”坦纳特回忆说，“于是我和威尔走到一栋我们看中的褐石公寓前，敲门想看看能不能拍。结果开门的竟然是莎拉·杰西卡·帕克（Sarah Jessica Parker）！她说‘嗨！’，我们也说‘嗨！’然后问：‘能在你家门口拍一场戏吗？’ 她居然答应了：‘嗯，好吧。’”
“我发誓，当电影杀青时，我给妻子打电话说：‘我完蛋了，我毁了自己的事业，也毁了威尔·史密斯的事业。’”坦纳特说。等他把素材交给剪辑师后，本以为成片会一败涂地，没想到他们回信说：“你不会相信，这电影太搞笑了……我当时都哭了。”
坦纳特表示，《全民情圣》的成功当时令他震惊，而它如今的持久影响更是令人惊叹。2020年，《娱乐周刊》（Entertainment Weekly）甚至将该片评为“史上最伟大的浪漫喜剧”。同年，女主角伊娃·门德斯（Eva Mendes）也表示愿意回归续集，“你知道吗？该拍《全民情圣2》了……威尔，我们干吧！”
虽然史密斯尚未公开提及续集计划，但坦纳特透露，他最近得知“威尔正在开发《全民情圣2》，不过没找我参与”。影片的结尾描绘了史密斯角色与门德斯角色的幸福婚礼，意味着续集的切入点可以无限延伸。而史密斯本人也以《绝地战警》《黑衣人》等系列闻名，这为续集的成功奠定了基础。
不过，坦纳特表示，这部电影紧张的国际宣传之旅让他身心俱疲。“电影结束后，我与威尔的缘分也结束了。就这样，”导演说，“从那以后，我再也没有收到过他的消息。
Hitch is one of the smoothest, most successful romantic comedies of the 2000s, which you'd never believe if you heard the film's behind-the-scenes story.
Director Andy Tennant is finally telling that story as the film approaches its 20th anniversary. "There was a lot of fear doing a big, expensive romantic comedy with ," the filmmaker behind another gold standard of aughts rom-coms, Sweet Home Alabama, recently told Business Insider.
Though it was Smith's idea to take a swing at his first rom-com, Tennant said the production was "fraught with peril" from the start. Smith even "tried to back out three days before we started shooting. He wanted to shut down and work on it some more. It was madness... 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."
Smith had already made the most towering successes of his career by the mid-2000s including Men in Black, Ali, and Bad Boys. He was riding high on his A-list status and had never starred in anything close to a romantic comedy. So why start then?
After being told by the studio that "romantic comedies with Black leads don't travel well overseas," Will took it as a challenge, Tennant noted. Will the businessman wanted to break that barrier and expand his brand.
Break that barrier he did, as Hitch earned over $370 million globally (including a whopping $192 million from the international box office) on its $70,000 budget. But the road to success was paved with trials and tribulations.
"We had our difficulties," Tennant said, recalling that Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, "was a big help" in moving things forward, because "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."
One such battle involved not having a location to shoot the pivotal doorstep scene between Smith and costar Kevin James — which, by the way, was written the day it was shot.
"We didn't have a location to shoot this. We didn't have permission. We had nothing," Tennant remembered. "Will and I went to a brownstone we liked, walked up to the door, knocked on the door to see if we could get permission to shoot there, and it turned out to be Sarah Jessica Parker's house. So she was like, 'Hi!' And we were like, 'Hi, can we shoot on your doorstep?' And she was like, 'Ah, yeah.'"
"I swear to god, when we wrapped that movie, I called my wife and said, 'I've just ruined my career, and I've ruined Will Smith's career,'" Tennant said. After wrapping and turning over the footage to his editors, Tennant expected the working cut to be a bomb, but when they sent the first draft of Hitch over, "They said, 'You're not going to believe this, this movie is hilarious... I think I started crying."
Hitch's success surprised Tennant at the time, and its enduring popularity is even more of a marvel. Entertainment Weekly coronated the film the greatest rom-com of all time in 2020. Co-star Eva Mendes indicated her openness to being part of a sequel the same year, saying, "You know what? It's time for a Hitch 2... Will, let's do this. Hitch 2."
Smith has not disclosed talks of a Hitch sequel, but Tennant said he recently discovered that "Will is developing a Hitch sequel without me." The end of the film depicts Smith's character's blissful wedding to Mendes', meaning the choices for a Hitch 2 jumping-off point are limitless. Smith is also celebrated for his successful franchises like Bad Boys and Men in Black, which also bodes well for a Hitch sequel.
But Tennant said that the film's whirlwind international press tour marked the end for him. "When it was over, my time with Will was over. That was it," the director said. "And I have never heard from him since."
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