It’s been said that Will Smith’s ego is gargantuan. His movie trailer for the making of Men in Black III is even bigger.
The greatest box office attraction in modern Hollywood has rented a massive moving mansion and parked it in the middle of the SoHo district of Lower Manhattan. The locals are irate about Smith’s arrogant disregard for their inconvenience.
At 1,150 square feet, the titanic trailer is larger than most two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments in the city. Nicknamed “The Heat,” the cavernous trailer includes a lounge, a movie room with a 100-inch screen, marble floors throughout, offices for his assistants and writing staff, a large bedroom and all-granite bathroom. It measures about 53 feet long, has 22 wheels and weighs in at around 30 tons. It rents for about $9,000 a week.
Smith rented this trailer despite the fact that, less than a mile away, he is renting a five-bedroom, six and a half-bathroom apartment for $25,000 a month on Bond Street. Now, that’s gangsta.
And that’s not all. There’s space for Smith to have his makeup and wardrobe done. A satellite uplink on the roof can send Smith’s movies to and from a 50-inch plasma TV or 37-inch TVs that pop up from cabinets. The trailer also features a 100-inch, roll-down movie screen. Upstairs holds a lounge with a bar, enough office space for 30 people to hold a meeting and the mobile offices of Smith’s assistant and his personal writing staff.
Not surprisingly, the neighbors are on fire about the intrusion into their living space. Area businesses claim that traffic has slowed to a trickle since Smith brought his veritable solar eclipse into their neighborhood.
“NYPD supervisors and officers assigned to the set from the Movie/TV Unit are on hand to ensure a production’s parking is in compliance with its permit,” said Julianne Cho, an associate commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting.
A rep for the studio producing the film, Sony Pictures Entertainment, said, “We know we are guests in the neighborhoods where we film, and are always respectful of the area residents and businesses.”
–terry shropshire
