Rapper-turned-actor Will Smith and his wife, actress Jada Pinkett Smith, have been developing a new comedy series for UPN called “All of Us,” and the couple plans to keep it in the family.
The two stars, who are executive producing the show, and their children may make occasional appearances on the series loosely based on their family life, Smith said yesterday (July 22) during UPN’s portion the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour.
“There will be a lot of Smiths on and off of the show,” he said.
“All of Us” centers on Robert, an entertainment reporter whose blended family includes his fiancee, son and ex-wife. Actor Duane Martin (“Any Given Sunday,” “Scream 2”) will play the lead role in the show, which the Smiths created with Betsy Borns.
Pinkett Smith will play Robert’s sister, who comes to check out his new love. Smith is planning a three-episode stretch playing the ex-wife’s first boyfriend after the divorce.
The Smiths also kept it in the family-and-friends circle with the casting of the show. Years ago, Martin, a close friend of Smith and Pinkett Smith, introduced the couple to each other. They returned the favor by tapping Martin to play the role molded after Smith.
“The one thing that we always said is, ‘Look, we’re in Hollywood, we’ve got to do like white people do — give each other jobs,” Smith quipped.
“This show is our baby … [and] we’ll be meddling and getting on Betsy’s nerves every day,” Smith said as he grabbed Martin’s shoulder to demonstrate how hands-on the two are going to be in helping to produce the series.
As for why the two picked UPN as the home for their project, “They were the most excited, and that was what was most important to us,” Pinkett Smith said. “And considering [UPN entertainment president] Dawn [Ostroff] is kind of going through something similar — she also has a blended family, so she works in the same way we do — so she really got what we were trying to do.”
Smith can currently be seen in “Bad Boys II,” which was the No. 1 film in the U.S. over the weekend, taking in $46.5 million.
