Director of 20-Year-Old Will Smith Movie Says a Sequel’s Getting Made Without Him

In 2005, Will Smith starred alongside Eva Mendes in the romantic comedy film Hitch. Two decades later, director Andy Tennant has shared that a sequel appears to be in the works with Smith back on board — but without Tennant returning.

Per Business Insider, Tennant reflected on Hitch in honor of the movie turning 20 years old in 2025. He noted how there was some friction with Smith when making the first movie, as they had different ideas on what would be best for the project. However, Tennant feels that the two having their disagreements helped make Hitch become as good as it was, feeling that it was the collaboration that resulted in an excellent film.

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“I didn’t want cheap jokes, but he didn’t trust me,” Tennant said of Smith. “We had our difficulties. 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. Jada [Pinkett Smith] was a big help. She kind of seconded some of my instincts. There was a time during prep when I was pushing back on a lot of crazy sh*t that was happening.”

I didn’t want cheap jokes, but he didn’t trust me.

Clarifying that he and Smith butted heads creatively over “crazy story ideas,” the director added, “There was a draft that Will brought in that I was not a fan of. I finally told the studio that I was more afraid of Will making that version of the movie than I was about them firing me. Because I knew they were right on the edge of firing me before we even began shooting. And to Will’s credit, we didn’t go with that draft. I don’t think I was ever in anyone’s favor.”

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“There was a lot of fear doing a big, expensive romantic comedy with Will,” Tennant also said. “It was fraught with peril. Will tried to back out three days before we started shooting. He wanted to shut down and work on it some more. It was madness.”

Hitch Was a Big Hit

Written by Kevin Bisch, Hitch starred Smith as a matchmaker who is shocked to learn that his methods for wooing women do not work on a gossip columnist (Eva Mendes). Kevin James, Amber Valletta, Michael Rapaport, and Adam Arkin also starred. The film was a big hit, banking over $371 million at the box office as one of 2005’s highest-grossing movies. Because of the success, Tennant said he “submitted a proposal for a sequel,” as he was still hoping to collaborate with Smith on a second movie, despite their differences. While his pitch wasn’t picked up, the director said he recently learned that Smith was already working with Sony on Hitch 2.

“But I guess Will is developing a Hitch sequel without me,” Tennant said. “I just found out about it three months ago. I had a really good idea for a sequel, and I was talking to an executive at Sony, and he said Will’s production company is developing a sequel. Hey, that’s Hollywood.”

Tennant reaffirmed that he doesn’t hold any ill will against Smith, respecting that he was “hired” to do a job with the first film and ultimately feeling happy with how the movie turned out. Though it was an “amazing” experience for the filmmaker at the time, he shared how Smith hasn’t been in contact with him once over the past two decades since Hitch was released.

“I don’t have anything against Will,” Tennant explained. “He hired me to make this movie. It was not an easy job for anybody, but we went around the world with the movie. Even the hard times he’d always say, ‘Wait until the junket. We’re gonna go around the world with this’ — and we did, and it was great. It was the most amazing trip I had ever been on. And when it was over, my time with Will was over. That was it. And I have never heard from him since.”

Hitch is streaming on Peacock.

Source: Business Insider

Hitch

Release Date

March 5, 2005

Runtime

118minutes

Director

Andy Tennant

Writers

Andy Tennant

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