Will Smith admitted to a fathering faux-pas during the premiere of new film After Earth, admitting that he let his son's safety come second during the shooting of a particularly dangerous scene. Will and Jaden were apparently shooting a scene in a tree riddled with poisonous snakes, however Papa Smith decided to shoot the scene with his anyway for the benefit of the film.
After Earth is riddled with monstrous creatures who prey on the Smiths for the majority of the film, however whilst most of the animals used in the flick are CGI creations, there were a few real props in the film that made the danger in some scenes very real indeed. Certain scenes were shot in the jungles of Costa Rica, including the one snake-ridden scene where Will and Jaden were confronted with real-live poisonous snakes.
"There are these snakes called fer-de-lances, and a fer-de-lance is the second most poisonous snake on Earth. We had snake wranglers on the set, six guys (who) would just walk around all the time and go ... thump!" Will said. "So there was a scene, and the snake wrangler came over and said, 'You know the tree that Jaden's about to do the shot in? We got, uh, a few snakes ... 'I said, 'Well, like two?' He said, 'We got ... maybe five today. You know, there's other trees. Jaden comes on the set and I was like, 'Well, let's just roll, we're here. Jaden, quick, just get up there, just get the scene! Now that I think about it, we shouldn't have done a couple of those shots."
Continue reading: Will Smith Admits To Letting Son Film With Live Snakes For 'After Earth'