The latest stories off the set of the big, bloated Men in Black III project suggest a runaway production -- from script problems to an oversized budget to movie-star behavior to a shooting schedule from hell.
Insiders close to the Sony sequel dispute this. But they agree that the tension on the New York set has ratcheted up of late as the film heads toward the end of principal shooting.
Star Will Smith headed back to L.A. last week for two days, setting off more reports of production problems. (Its not clear there were any.)
But more static has arisen with the filming of chase scenes that have shut down portions of streets around New York City, diverting traffic and generally pissing off the local populace.
Meanwhile, Smith has been throwing his weight around, leading to leaks off the set about demanding behavior -- ordering that a set be torn down because "it wasn't right," and that another set be rebuilt to accommodate his improvisations, TheWrap has learned.
Its a big, expensive movie in New York City, said an individual involved in the production. The last three, four weeks are a lot of chase scenes, so a lot of this gets magnified.
And, he acknowledged, all has not been wine and roses with the movie's big star lately.
There is a little bit of a thing going on with Smith, he said.
Which wont surprise anyone.
In May, tabloids had a feeding frenzy over star Smiths oversized star trailer and gym.
The trailer was a $9,000-a-month, 53-foot behemoth -- longer than a city bus -- that the New York Post derided as starship-sized.
Also Read: NY Post Gets Will Smith to Move His 'Men In Black 3' Trailer
The Post wrote that the monstrosity was choking business revenues and filling the streets with exhaust fumes.
Now the I Am Legend actor will have to trek to the trailer to get his makeup done, confer with his personal writers and lounge in his marble-floored, 100-inch-screen film room or walk less than a mile to his own $25,000-a-month Bond Street apartment.
The actor also had a set rebuilt in order to accommodate an improvised scene he filmed, according to two people involved in the production.
The scene involved a telephone call between Smiths character, Agent J and Tommy Lee Joness character, Agent K. Some time after Jones filmed his portion of the call, it was Smiths turn. But Smith improvised quite a bit, and his part of the conversation no longer matched Joness.
Smith told producers he wanted to see Jones on camera responding to the new material -- a request that required the crew to rebuild the set, or at least a few walls of it -- so Jones could film there again.
On another occasion, early in the filming, Smith had the crew tear down a nearly completed set at Kaufman Astoria Studios because it "wasn't right," a person with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.
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