DYK Will Smith suggested Kevin James for the role of Albert Brennaman in 'Hitch'?

Will Smith had starred in the 2005 comedy film Hitch which was a hit grossing more than $371 Million at the box-office. The film showed Smith in the titular character of Alex "Hitch" Hitchens who is a professional date doctor who mentors men to woo women. One of his clients is Albert who wants to win over glamorous Allegra Cole and while Hitch's ways do work out for him, Hitch himself faces setbacks after his techniques prove wrong in his dating life. While the role of Albert Brennaman was played by Kevin James, many people do not know that it was Will Smith who recommended him for the role. Read on to know more about Hitch movie trivia.

Will Smith suggested Kevin James for the role of Albert in Hitch

According to IMDB, Will Smith had suggested Kevin James for the role of Albert Brennaman in Hitch. Will Smith had become a fan of Kevin James after watching his 1998 sitcom The King Of Queens. Kevin James appeared as Dough who was the husband of Leah Remini's character Carrie Heffernan. In the sitcom, they lived their life happily as a working-class couple in New York but things take turns when Carrie's annoying and goofy father moves in with them. The sitcom was shot in front of a live audience and the series successfully ran from 1998 to 2007 for nine seasons.

Another interesting piece of trivia about Hitch is that the female lead was supposed to be Caucasian, but according to IMDB, Will Smith revealed that the producers did not want the lead couple to be interracial as it was taboo at the time. They also refused to have a black female lead because they did not want to alienate white audiences. Hence, they went for Hispanic female lead Eva Mendes. Interestingly, Robinne Lee's character of Cressida was offered to Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai Bachchan but she could not take up the role due to scheduling conflicts.

About Will Smith's movies

After achieving modest fame as rapper The Fresh Prince in the 80s, Will Smith rose to prominence for his role in the NBC television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the 90s. His role of stockbroker Chirs Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness as well as his role of boxer Muhammad Ali in Ali earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Actor. He gained worldwide recognition for his character of Agent J in the science fiction comedy Men in Black. He later reprised the role for sequels Men In Black II and Men In Black III. Smith starred as the Genie in the live-action film Aladdin in 2019 which turned out to be the highest grossing film of his career grossing over $1 Billion at the box-office. On the work front, he will be next seen as Richard Williams in the biopic King Richard which is scheduled to release in November this year.

IMAGE: WILL SMITH/ KEVIN JAMES INSTAGRAM