Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith were already married for a few years when the opportunity to star together in a film fell on their laps. Smith had been cast to play boxing legend Muhammad Ali in the 2001 biopic "Ali," and director Michael Mann insisted that Jada play Ali's first wife, Sonji Roi.
But Jada was opposed to the idea of starring in the film because she didn't want viewers to confuse her and Will for the couple they would be playing on-screen. "I felt like because we were a couple off-screen, for people to see us together on the screen in a movie like this would — they wouldn't see Ali and Sonji," she told "Couch Surfing."
There was no repeat of the two working on a project together because apparently, Will tends to be nit-picky about his wife's performance. In an interview with Black Film in 2006, Will was asked why he didn't include Jada in "The Pursuit of Happyness," which their son, Jaden Smith, also took part in. "Well, you know, Jada kind of prefers not to work with me," he said with a laugh. "'Cause I'm like, 'You know baby, the last take, you did this, why don't you try it a little different this time?' and she'd be like, 'Boy, you worry about you, let me worry about me.' We worked on 'Ali' together, so ... We're trying to keep a happy home, so we avoid that."
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