Will Smith Brings Back the Sun: Part II

QUVENZHANE WALLIS 

Replaces Willow Smith as Annie!

It was previously announced that Will & Jada Smith will be producing a film version of Annie with Jay-Z re-working the score (&co-producing), Emma Thompson adapting the script, & his daughter Willow Smith cast in the title role. It was announced yesterday that Quvenzhane Wallis, the 9-year-old who became the youngest person to be nominated in the Best Actress category for her performance in Beasts of the Southern Wild, has officially been cast as our Little Orphan Annie. I am so down with this re-casting; I was not in favor of Willow Smith playing the role. It was too inbred, she is too old, & seemed too sassy. Quvenzhane Wallis, on the other hand, still seems like a little girl, has a face that is familiar enough to trust & unfamiliar enough to imagine as Annie, & certainly understands the hard-knock life. My only concern: Can she sing? While attending the seminar Real Talk With Sister Souljah & Will Smith at Temple University on February 5, Will Smith delivered the news that daughter pulled out of the movie. 

Here's his explanation:

"In the past 18 months, I have spent a lot of time focusing on the emotional aspect of my life and my family. In 2010, in one year, our family had the Karate Kid. We had Whip my Hair, we had Hawthorne, and at the end of the year, we did the Nobel Concert when Barack Obama won his Nobel Peace Prize. Don’t be clapping yet, that wears you out. 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.

Willow was supposed to be doing Annie, we got Jay-Z to do the movie, got the studio to come in and Willow had such a difficult time on tour with Whip my Hair and she said, ‘You know Daddy, I don’t think so’ and I said, ‘Baby, hold up! 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.’

I’m really learning through Willow the necessity that we have to snap ourselves back and refocus on the emotional needs of the people that we love. Someone’s emotional needs can be very very different from your dreams and what you think they should be doing and where they are supposed to be."

Will Smith Brings Back the Sun: Part I