The American actor Will Smith delivered one of his best career performances in the 2001-film Ali. The biographical sports drama film highlights the controversial yet celebrated career of boxer Muhammad Ali from 1964 to 1974. Written and directed by Michael Mann, Ali also sheds light on the social and political turbulence in the United States of America following the death of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. 

The iconic movie opened to great reviews from the critics but was not received well by the fans as it emerged as one of the biggest flops in 2001. Despite the box office failure, Will Smith received a lot of applause and appreciation for his portrayal of Muhammad Ali on the screen. The actor had put in a lot of effort to get into the boxer’s skin, which was illustrated in his performance. Smith also received the Best Actor Oscar Nomination for the film. In one of his old interviews, the 53-year-old reflected on the physical changes he had to undergo to ace the character on the big screen.

Will Smith jokes about his excessive physical training for Ali

While preparing to portray the legendary boxer on the screen, Will Smith went to extreme lengths to get his body into shape and look convincing on the screen. The actor gained around 200 pounds of weight, including 35 pounds of muscles, to match up to Muhammad Ali’s physique of 210 pounds. Following the film’s release, the Aladdin actor once joked about how he had turned into a human viagra. 

“I am human Viagra. I’m Willagra. Feel like a sex machine now. I’m raring to go every second of the day. My wife’s loving it,” Smith said in a 2001 interview with RTE. 

Will had approximately four months to train his body, and it was a challenging task for his coach, Darrell Foster, considering that the actor didn’t have any connection with boxing prior to the film. One of the crazy things that King Richard actor did was to train 10,000 feet up in Aspen, Colorado. 

Foster reflected on the reason behind the same, stating that he wanted Will Smith to know how it feels to struggle to breathe. The experience helped the Award-winning actor in natural expressions while boxing in the film. 

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