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Will Smith recently told an audience at Temple University that childhood was the instrumental reason for his daughter, Willow Smith’s dropping out of the film adaptation of the Broadway musical, Annie.
The “Whip My Hair” child star began feeling the wear and tear of her hectic schedule which included opening for Justin Beiber on the European leg of his My World tour. When the megastar father tried to persuade his daughter into continuing her Annie obligations he informed the crowd that she succinctly shut down any persuasion attempts:
“I said ‘no,no,no, listen, you’ll be in New York with all of your friends and Beyoncé will be there. You will be singing and dancing,’ and she looked at me and said, ‘Daddy, I have a better idea, how about I just be 12.’”
Previous reports claimed Willow, now 12, had outgrown the role as she was nine at the time of her agreement to join the musical.
Will also revealed his 18 months of “ focusing on the emotional aspect” of his life, his family and how their hectic schedules sometimes skews their perceptions:
“The thing that had become very clear to me is the danger of a material world, and focusing so hard on coming up with money or a house or a job. You focus so hard on those things, and sometimes you can lose focus on why you are doing it in the first place. The only reason to do any of that is to have love.”
The film’s production is a collaboration between Overbrook Entertainment (Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith and James Lassiter) and Marcy Media (Jay-Z, Tyran “Ty Ty” Smith and Jay Brown). The film is tentatively set for a Fall 2014 release.
