Bad Boys duo Will Smith and Michael Bay eye explosive return with Netflix's Fast and Loose
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After the smash hit Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Will Smith is planning a major reunion with the filmmaker who co-created the Bad Boys series with him almost three decades ago. Sources have informed Deadline that Michael Bay is actively pursuing the role of director for Smith's upcoming action film, Fast and Loose, which is scheduled to debut on Netflix. Official closure of the deal is still pending. Despite the lack of an official start date, rumours suggest that the two A-listers are already planning to collaborate on a film.
Will Smith withdraws from Sugar Bandits to focus on new projects
The community went into a frenzy over Smith's possible next move after the news came on Deadline that he was pulling out of the thriller Sugar Bandits, which had been in the works as his next production.
After waking up in Tijuana, the protagonist of Fast and Loose has no recollection of his past. He discovers, as he reconstructs his history, that he has been a double agent for the CIA and a criminal kingpin. Eric Pearson, Jon Hoeber, Chris Bremner, and Erich Hoeber wrote the screenplay.
Smith will co-produce the film with 87North's Kelly McCormick and David Leitch, while Westbrook Studios' Co-President and Head of Motion Pictures, Jon Mone, and Ryan Shimazaki are in talks to produce alongside James Lassiter and Westbrook. Bad Boys: Ride or Die was another project that Westbrook helped develop. On behalf of STXfilms, Robert Simonds and Noah Fogelson will serve as executive producers. An additional executive producer is Barry Waldman.
The success of Bad Boys: Ride or Die fuels momentum for Fast and Loose
Smith has been working on Fast and Loose for a while, and with the success of Bad Boys: Ride or Die, which made $400 million globally, a number of projects, including Smith, began to gather steam. With Smith and Bay back together again, the project was too good to pass up, and it's the kind of big event film that Netflix is still attempting to prioritise.
Smith and Bay have a long history together, beginning with the original 1995 Bad Boys, in which Smith appeared and Bay directed. The film catapulted both actors into the spotlight, with Smith going on to become one of the most bankable performers of the following two decades and Bay becoming the filmmaker everyone turned to for big tentpoles. In the end, he decided to helm the first five installments of the Transformers film series.
After collaborating on Bad Boys II in 2003, Smith and Bay maintained communication regarding potential future projects together.
Michael Bay's success on Netflix with previous action thrillers
Bay had earlier directed the critically acclaimed action thriller 6 Underground on Netflix in 2019. Some of the most popular action flicks on the streaming service are his 2022 thrillers, Ambulance among them.
