Friday, November 30th, 2007
Two of the Smartest Men in Hollyweird
Posted by Bossip Staff
Will Smith and Tyler Perry ranked in the top ten of Entertainment Weekly’s 50 Smartest People in Hollywood list.
1. Judd Apatow, director/writer/producer
2. Steven Spielberg, director/producer
3. James Cameron, director/producer
4. Ari Emanuel, partner of the Endeavor Agency
5. Will Smith, actor/producer
6. Meryl Streep, actor
7. Peter Rice, president of Fox Searchlight
8. Tyler Perry, actor/director/writer/producer
9. David Heyman, producer
10. John Knoll, visual-effects supervisor of Industrial Light & Magic
Click Here to view the list in its entirety.
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Topics: Will Smith
First time for a 1st, I just want to say Real recognize real, Yeah Tyler Perry, My Man
TYLAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH (tyler)! I love {in Madea voice} Tyler Perrysss, yes!lol
AnD Will….keep me near the cross, Lawd. No comment.
Will, My Man….Tyler, my man.
WTF did Meryl Steep do to be considered smart???? Only White people must be able to understand that one…..
cool! good to see some positive news!
Only two writers in the top ten and Perry’s one of them.
That’s a feat alone to me.
If you say nothing else about two, I believe this *****essement is accurate.
http://www.theblackactor.com
Meryl Streep should be on this list.
She received her B.A. in Drama at V*****ar College and earned a M.F.A. from Yale University.
Very intelligent woman. One of my faorite actresses as well.
Good for Will & Tyler not a bad list to be on at all.
opps: favorite
good for them but why does the two black men on the list have that undercover brother secret uh hollywood
just wondering tho’ what were the guidelines, I mean how did they judge? But nonetheless Congrats to them both…
smh @ a gay ***** in a dress being a champion for black media
BOTH R SMARTY & ZEZZZYYY!!!!!
CCC
good for them but why does the two black men on the list have that undercover brother secret uh hollywood
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LMAO!!!!! Congrats to them though. At least they’re being recognized for something positive, and not a DWI, or DUI, etc… etc… etc…
what about Oprah Winfrey? she’s smart. recognize. how did Angelina Jolie beat out Sasha Baron Cohen? why is she even on the list? where’s Natalie Portman…you know the Harvard grad?
the list is bogus, but good for Will and Tyler.
elle
Meryl Streep should be on this list.
She received her B.A. in Drama at V*****ar College and earned a M.F.A. from Yale University.
Very intelligent woman. One of my faorite actresses as well.
Good for Will & Tyler not a bad list to be on at all.
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Meryl Streep is on the list. She’s number 6. They just put actor instead of actress. Congrats to Will and Tyler. These fools in the Obama at Apollo post are trying to say black youth have no positive role models, well I see two right here.
@ AND…
hello my comment was for Roccity who didn’t understand why Meryl was on the list.
But list like these always leave out so many other people as HEY pointed out
I knew it would come down to this….well what do you mean (I’ll keep it to myself) on another site they have a pic of Usher and Tameka son he is a cutie he got his daddy nose, but still a cutie. The site that has it they don’t have 2 million viewers a day for nothing.
What makes them smart? Did they have to take an aptitude test or something?
Will…YAY! Tyler…notsomuch. I’ve never really been a Tyler Perry fan, but that’s just me and my being sadiddy. Anyway…
What the HELL does SMH mean? It’s KILLING ME!
Robert!….smh=shaking my head
lol @ Just Another saying the baby was born with Usher’s nose, but is still cute, nonetheless lol
Good for Tyler….he’s really a smart man….congrats to Will also….
Some are posting regarding the persons level of education, i.e., degrees, etc. That’s not what they are ssying. I don’t believe Will Smith even went to college. Degrees have nothing to do with it. Here’s the criteria:
Every person on the list had to be smart not just in general, but smart right now. They had to be leading the industry forward in some way, today.
2) The list would be about the movie business only. (We’ll do a Smartest People in TV list, too, next year).
3) The list would represent a broad range of intelligence in the movie business – not just the suits and the stars, but the composers and the costume designers, too.
4) “Smart” could mean many things. It encomp*****es books smarts and street smarts, financial genius and emotional intelligence. We weren’t interested in IQ. What mattered was the originality of each person’s thinking and the reach of their ideas beyond the borders of their own careers.
5) At 50 names, the list could not possibly include every smart person in Hollywood. Each person on this list needed to help paint a portrait of where movies are today and where they’re headed. Each person on this list tells a different story about the movie business today. They are all smart, certainly, but they also symbolize, collectively, Hollywood now.
6) We ranked them first, and primarily, by their overall impact on the industry this year, and then factored in the influence of each person within their own profession. It allows for a diverse and surprising list, where a cinematographer (Emmanuel Lubezki) can take the #24 slot, while an Oscar winning director (Michael Moore) can come in below him at #27. It will also give you, we’re sure, plenty to argue with us about.
In short, you need to be a “trailblazer” to make the list.
Congrats Will and Tyler.
@ txshawty
I had to give a description, cause we know Bossip ain’t gone post this story. Then they will swear that they have an exclusive story, or that MTO took their story etc. LOL I wanted to inform ppl cause Bossip will sit on this story until later on in the day or tomorrow. I hope you check the pic out, he is adorable!
HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH EDUCATION U DWEEBS!
Sean Taylor, Mannie’s sis, R. Kelly & Rodney King showin’ their ***** as usual……
at least they’re being acknowledged for something positive……I think this is the first GOOD thing I’ve heard all week!
Congrats to them…
Big ups to Will and Tyler. Much respect do your thing Black Men
Meryl Streep is IT. Not only is she a brainiac, she can act her a$$ off. I guess “RocCity” is only concerned with what’s happening in his own zipcode – his intelligent comment backs that up (?). As for Tyler – YES, YES, YES!
I believe they mean overall, could have had this ’stigma’ but chose to turn it around and make bank .. not necessarily who’s rich .. Oparah’s rich but not necessarily intelligent in her choices – exhibit 1) her foundation school and staff choice – exhibit 2) her going on a liquid diet then gaining more back – exhibit 3) the movie Beloved – exhibit 4) continuing to wear high-high heels even though she has major bunion/corn issues .. the only smart move was to send Stedman packing with $240million in hush money .. but you get my point with the list .. Angelina Jolie was a w*****/incest loving/junkie .. now she’s a UN saint and mother of all – smart move
Two powerful, smart, rumored to be gay black men…
I wondered what their criteria was…interesting list(s) for the list season.
Black Goddess, yeah, that’s what I’m thinking. It’s a list of the 50 most financially smartest people in H’weird. Wow, I though Latifa made some wise choices.
Not much of a Tyler Perry fan, but I salute all the Brothas and Sistas who can take it to “that” level! Do ya dammed thang!
BlackGoddess
I believe they mean overall, could have had this ’stigma’ but chose to turn it around and make bank .. not necessarily who’s rich .. Oparah’s rich but not necessarily intelligent in her choices – exhibit 1) her foundation school and staff choice – exhibit 2) her going on a liquid diet then gaining more back – exhibit 3) the movie Beloved – exhibit 4) continuing to wear high-high heels even though she has major bunion/corn issues .. the only smart move was to send Stedman packing with $240million in hush money .. but you get my point with the list .. Angelina Jolie was a w*****/incest loving/junkie .. now she’s a UN saint and mother of all – smart move
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Wow at the Angelina comment, no need to sound so strong. Basically, what this list is is not necessarily people who are smart (intelligent), but smart as in public-wise, i.e. those with alot of publicity now, and actually benefitting from it.
Thanks jazzyphile for posting that b/c some of the posters didn’t go to the link to see why these ppl were chosen as the smartest in hollywood- just movies and they are I’m actually surprised that James Cameron or Steven Spielberg were not #1 but I guess #2&3 are just as good.
-Congrats to Will and Tyler they deserve it but it just seems weird that more A.A’s were not on the list…
Quote from Entertainment Weekly: “So EW decided to go in search of the people who are rocking the industry’s world this year, the people with ideas – innovative, creative, dangerous, renegade ideas – who are changing the way movies are made.”
How the HELL are Will Smith and Tyler Perry “changing the way movies are made”? Not to take anything away from Will’s success, but “renegade ideas” has he come up with to shake up Hollywood? His success has added more action flicks to the “Black Pot”, but Hollywood is STILL cranking out thug movies and coon comedies, the latter of which Tyler Perry is the current queen, er king.
And speaking of Tyler Perry, he hasn’t done anything on film that Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence have not done before him. How smart do you have to be to put on a dress? Tyler’s not smart, WE’RE stupid, because we fall for that coonery every single time! Have you SEEN House of Pain??!(And no I did NOT make a mistake in the spelling!)
I’m not trying to be the “crab in the barrel pulling everyone else down”. I’m just trying to be realistic about this whole thing. When I see that Angelina Jolie is on this list, I think it’s safe to call BULL*****!
figures
sorry, that should read “but WHAT renegade ideas”…
lol true they are both possibly gay, but at least its POSITIVE news about black men!!!
Black men doing it with black women by their sides – a beautiful thing to witness – peace & blessings to all the positive africans on this site
@ richie
Coon? Coonery?…I sure hope that we don’t cross paths.
They both know how to parlay their winning smiles and personalities into fat cash. If that ain’t smart I don’t know what is.
I am not a Tyler Perry fan at all, however he has made some of the smartest business moves that the entertainment industry has seen. This man has gone from the stage to the big screen and has made hundreds of millions of dollars along providing jobs in the entertainment business to qualified black people. He is also going to build his own production company that will also put out his on movies… As far as Will Smith is concern, Will brings in 20 million dollars a film… not only scoring a perfect score on his S.A.T’s being accepted to M.I.T… we all know that he decided to pursue rap, he’s choices of films has been methodical, “I AM LEGEND” will be a beast at the theatre’s. I MAY BE WRONG BUT I DON’T THINK THAT WE SUPPORT “HOOD MOVIES” YET MORE OF SUPPORTING THE BLACK ACTORS THEMSELVES. WE HAVE 5 BLACK MALE MOVIE STARS (WILL, DENZEL, MORGAN, SAMUEL AND LAURENCE) THAT HOLLYWOOD TAKES SERIOUSLY. EDDIE SOMETIMES BUT… AS FAR AS BLACK WOMEN… IT IS A SERIOUS DROP OFF… GABRELLE, SANNA, REGINA, HALLE ARE THE ONLY WOMEN WHO GET SENT SCRIPTS THAT ARE WRITTEN FOR THEM AND NOT HAVING TO AUDITION FOR THEM. I WORK IN THIS INDUSTRY AND 90 PERCENT OF THE SCRIPTS THAT ARE WRITTEN FOR WHITE WOMEN… AND SOME OF OUR BEST BLACK ACTRESSES HAVE TO FIGHT FOR SOME OF THE ROLES THAT A LESS TALENTED WHITE ACTRESS WOULDNT HAVE TO… SO, UNTIL WE GET MORE MINORITY PRODUCERS AND DIRECTORS CASTING “US” INSTEADED OF THEM DOING MUSIC VIDEOS THEN THERE WILL ALWAYS BE “2″ OF US IN THE THE TOP 50… AND SERIOUSLY, OPRAH IS THE MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE IN THE WORLD, YET SHE HASN’T OR WON’T EVER PROMOTE A BLACK ACTOR OR ACTRESS UNLESS YOUR NAME IS HALLE, CHRIS (ROCK) OR WILL. MAYBE IT IS JUST ME…
Some posters are ragging on Tyler because one of his characters wears a dress and his productions can be a little on the slapstick side. The important thing about Tyler, just like your girl “Pope’prah”, he has “ownership”. That’s where the control and the big bucks are.
Say what you want ’bout him, he definethy got ownership (studio owner, producer, director, writer & actor). Oh yeah, and overall good guy.
Bird
What makes them smart? Did they have to take an aptitude test or something?
^^^LOL^^^^
I am surprised by the amount of hate on this topic. I thought we would be able to celebrate/congratulate cuz “we don’t have any good role models” is constantly being said.
Jazzyphile is right and not only that Tyler has made his money without compromising his integrity or values and still ppl hate. I’m not saying you have to like the man but at the very least respect where he came from, where he is now, and how he got there.
Why aren’t Beyonce, Supahead, and TI on that list??? I’m outraged!!
I kid, I kid…
Isn’t there news about lil’ Wayne saying something? I love it when he spouts his well reasoned and educated opinions…
LOL @ lacyd. you’re so funny.
Thank you, Pistons 36. I thought the same thing.
I have a friend who received an undergrad degree at UC Berkeley and he obtained a grad degree at Harvard. He left a 6-figure corporate job to end up starting a minstrel show website (with some bootleg Chappelle Show skits) with a fellow Black male Harvard grad. The first thing I wondered when I saw his site was, “What made him think I’d remotely be interested in this bull*****?” The second thing I thought was, “It’s a damn shame that a person can attend 2 prestigious universities and end up doing nothing constructive with his or her life.”
Will Smith’s work has artistic integrity. I have no idea what is so smart about a grown ***** man dressing up like an old ***** woman and acting a fool. Tyler Perry needs to make a Dave Chappelle pilgrimage because the “work” he does is a detriment to society.
If they say so.
sitfu.com
Taking a Closer Look at the Stories Ignored by the Mainstream Media
Lacyd, I’d be happier if T.I. was on that list based his community redevelopment efforts.
T.I. has been going into underdeveloped communities that had been ignored for decades. He had a construction company that bought and tore down delapidated property, rebuilt (beautiful) homes and placed low income families in them. The media *coughs* has chosen to focus on his rap sheet and his babymama rather than these positive efforts.
BET made me want to ***** up a new HDTV when they aired their BS “round table” forum on hip hop in America. Black people in entertainment do a lot of great things like Nelly did with his JesUs4Jackie foundation (he tried to locate a bone marrow donor for his sister, Jackie before she succombed to leukemia). Like Nelly said, everyone wanted to focus on their negative opinions about his “Tip Drill” video.
With that said, a lot of video girls claim they are so educated and so intelligent. I am educated and intelligent and I’ve never felt the need to pose in my panties and a 5 year-old child’s t-shirt to show how “educated” I am. If these women took these alleged degrees that they earned and work in finance, art, education or something that doesn’t involve shoes and clothing, it would be a miracle.
It used to be that all we had was Amos ‘n Andy. Those days are over, yet all we see is Madea and Soul Plane. Damn shame. We clearly lack high opinions of ourselves. We may not want to see Othello at a playhouse, but can we get something other than “Mama, Why Can’t I Keep A Man?”
A Black Man + intelligence + talent + deep pockets + children born in wedlock – no trouble with the law does not = gay. To some jealous,small minded, no-talents it might = sour grapes.
And for the record, Yale and Harvard graduates are not any smarter than graduates from any other college. They just think they are.
@XXX,
Of COURSE we will never cross paths. So why don’t you just say what you have to say?
“Black people in entertainment do a lot of great things like Nelly did with his JesUs4Jackie foundation (he tried to locate a bone marrow donor for his sister, Jackie before she succombed to leukemia). Like Nelly said, everyone wanted to focus on their negative opinions about his “Tip Drill” video.”
Nelly pulled out of the bone marrow drive at Spelman College because he didn’t want to parti*****te in a public forum about ‘Tip Drill.’ So, faced with the choice to either talk about the garbage he produced and save his sister’s life, or to avoid owning up to degrading women and potentially miss out on finding a bone marrow match for his sister, he chose to run away.
That’s not admirable at all. Then he tried to spin it like Spelman cancelled the event when, in actuality, the school went ahead and held a bone marrow drive without his punk *****.
Where is Don Cheadle he is one of the most under rated actors of our time, and he’s doing a lot for charity in Afrika it’s kept on the low like Chris Tucker. Will and Tyler are okay but along with 2 of the smartest should have also read 2 of the gayest, this list to me means nothing there are too many talented and under rated black actors/ess in hollyweird who are also involved in many projects in local communities and you don’t hear about them. Will is about to join Scientology a known religion for gays hiding in the closet, Trevolta, Cruise, Elfman and this list goes on. while I don’t care about their sexual orientation its seems odd Tyler Perry is given smartest man award, yt just love seeing a black man in drag cooning. SMH
Ah shiz, richie rich and xxx about to get it crackin in this piece!!!!
nah,im just playin. *smile*
@ lacyd
Funny, LMAo
RESPECT!!!!
Forget you haters. Will is not gay. Glad to see he made this list. I love the hair on his face. Sexy.
Why I know will is gay?:
My problem with Will is he hasn’t lived up to the Black male gold standard.
1. He doesn’t curse in his rap (shame on him)
2. He doesn’t have half naked fat-bottomed girls in his videos.(says he respect women too much=gay)
3. He doesn’t have a prison record.
4. No warrants out for his arrest.
5. No baby mother suing him for child support.
6. He speaks this strange White man language.
7. He’s married. (only gay Black men marry)
8. His sons knows know him and seems to love him (GAY!!!!)
9. They write scripts for him. (which non gay Black man deserve such respect?)
THE MAIN REASON WE KNOW HE IS GAY…TADAAA.
10. He’s always showing up with his wife and talking about how much he loves her, and she not even White. (which non gay Black man does that?)
That guy is so gay I hope Black boys never grow up to be like him.
I can’t wait for ‘I am Legend’ to come out. That is all.
Thank you Seth.
@ Seth
And the other reason that he’s gay, is that the Thug worshipping females: CubanLinda and Oh ***** That hasn’t bothered to show up to post a comment. Now if it was Lil Wayne or Fiddy, well you know the story.
LOL @ Seth. “Only gay black men marry.”
This is a dumb azz comment:
“Oprah’s rich but not necessarily intelligent in her choices – exhibit 1) her foundation school and staff choice – exhibit 2) her going on a liquid diet then gaining more back – exhibit 3) the movie Beloved – exhibit 4) continuing to wear high-high heels even though she has major bunion/corn issues .. the only smart move was to send Stedman packing with $240million in hush money .. but you get my point with the list …
“SMART” as in movie roles and deals they take/produce/negotiate. Will makes more money per film than any other black actor, including Denzel. He received like 20+ million for IRobot and negotiated about 15-20% of the profits.
Perry has negotiated some great deals with TV and/or movies. He just signed a deal with Lionsgate worth millions…They are a production-distribution company and is currently one of the largest independent film distributors in North America.
Congratulations!!!
Tyler needs to take some lessons from Will quick and get himself a beard.
I think this list is a bullsh#t list. They just threw together some names, and tossed it out there to stir up some chat. Will Smith is the luckiest black male out there, he has no real talent. He is just an actor. What skillz is that. He uses about 100 “takes” to make a scene.