Andy Tennant, who directed Hitch, told Business Insider: “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”.
The filmmaker continued: “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”.
He added: “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 favour”.
Andy went on to say that the tension was key to the movie’s success, sharing that one of the movie’s best scenes ― when Hitch shows Albert how to walk a woman to the door ― was rewritten on the sport at Will’s request.
Per IMdB, Will was also responsible for the casting of Kevin James, who he’d enjoyed in The King of Queens.
But he also said some misalignments were so strong that Will Smith “tried to back out three days before we started shooting” in order to improve the script.
“He wanted to shut down and work on it some more. It was madness.”
In the end, it was apparently Will’s wife Jada Pinkett-Smith who talked him back round.
