Welcome to another edition of Retro Rewind, the TGJ original feature carved out to take our faithful readers on a journey to TV and Film’s glorious past.
Today, we return to 1993 to revisit ‘Six Degrees of Separation’, the Schepisi-directed drama starring Will Smith.
In it, Smith plays a con man named a young man named Paul who convinces a wealthy couple that he is the son of the actor Sidney Poitier.
Enamoured by his charm, wit and talent, the couple soon find themselves adopting him and welcoming him to their opulent lifestyle. Alas, it isn’t long before the truth emerges.
What happens when it does?
Find out below…
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the movie was inspired by the real-life story of Mr. David Hampton who conned several affluent families in the Upper East Side of New York City telling him that he was Poitier’s son.
One of these families would go on to pen the play that would become the movie.
Flaunting Smith’s versatility as a thespian, the project picked up $6 million at the Box office (unfortunate considering its $15 million budget) as well as secure two Golden Globe nominations for Stockard Channing who had portrayed Frenchie in the movie ‘Grease‘ in 1978.
She also picked up in an admirer in the-then ‘Fresh Prince.’
He had this to say about the release in a recent interview with ‘Esquire’:
With Six Degrees of Separation, I got a taste early of the dangers of going too far for a character. My character was in love with Stockard Channing’s character. And I actually fell in love with Stockard Channing. Te movie was over and I went home, and I was dying to see Stockard. I was like, ‘Oh no! What have I done?’ That was my last experience with method acting, where you’re reprogramming your mind. You’re actually playing around with your psychology. You teach yourself to like things and to dislike things. It is a really dangerous place when you get good at it. But once I had that experience, I was like, No more method acting. I was spending—for SixDegrees, I wanted to perform well so badly that I was spending six and seven and eight days in character before shooting, and you have to be careful with that.
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A brilliant movie! I had no clue it was based on a true story. Will was so bold to play a gay character, especially in the 90s
He slayed the hell out of this movie! I wish Hollywood made more mid level movies like they did in the 90s because not everyone cares about cars being blown up and superheroes fighting each other.
This movie showed Will was and is a versatile actor. Most male actors wouldn’t had did it as a gay character, but again it’s just a movie role, and it proved he was worthy for the industry. Sometimes it’s alright to step out of your comfort zone.
Yes, it didn’t do well at the box office but it proved he was far bigger than the fresh prince.
He Played What He is
Sound like a nice movie