Will Smith Nearly Died Shooting This Sci-Fi Movie - And Hid It From His Wife

Alex Proyas' 2004 sci-fi film "I, Robot" is only very loosely based on Isaac Asimov's 1950 anthology of the same name. The original book was a short story collection, with each tale speculating on the ethics of creating humanoid androids. In one of the stories, Asimov laid out his three laws of robotics, which were the ethical guidelines that droid-inventors would need to program into robo-brains to prevent a robot uprising. In brief, the three laws were: no robot can cause harm to a human, either by action or inaction; robots have to follow human orders (unless it conflicts with law #1); and a robot has to preserve its own life.

All of the philosophical intrigue was replaced in Proyas' film with action scenes, motorcycle chases, and an oblique detective story. Will Smith starred as Del Spooner, a Chicago cop who is investigating a crime that may have been committed by an android (played by Alan Tudyk). It's the year 2035, and servant androids are everywhere. Del Spooner hates them all, knowing that android logic doesn't account for situations where two human lives are in danger. Throughout the film, Smith did his own motorcycle stunts, often seen riding an ultra-cool, high-tech vehicle through the futuristic streets.

Smith's ambition to do his own stunt driving, however, was something that nearly killed him and angered his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Speaking to the Irish Examiner in 2004, Pinkett Smith revealed that her husband attempted to perform a high-speed motorcycle stunt early in production and was thrown off the bike ...and didn't tell her about it at first. Smith was merely bruised, but it could've been much worse, while Pinkett Smith was "pissed." Smith described the whole experience in a now-deleted Instagram post, but it has since been archived by KIIS-FM on Facebook.

The motorbike accident was so terrible that Smith was afraid to get back on a motorcycle for a decade. He made his Instagram video in 2018 while shooting the sci-fi flick "Gemini Man." Having to do some motorcycle stunts for that film only reminded him of the danger he faced on the set of "I, Robot." He described the experience as follows: 

"The last time I was on a motorcycle was, like, 10 years ago. 'I, Robot.' And I crash at about 50 mph. They said I was unconscious for about two minutes. I looked at my five-year-old daughter, and I was like 'That's it.' And I haven't been on a motorcycle since. So, today's the first day I'm getting back on a motorcycle. I'm a little shook."

The accident may've been revealed to the public in 2018, but Pinkett Smith had known about it for 14 years by then. Smith, however, didn't call his wife from the set of "I, Robot" to reveal that he was in an accident, merely coming home with bangs and bruises. Pinkett Smith was angry that Smith didn't rely on a stunt driver and performed the stunt multiple times. As she told the Irish Examiner:

"He kind of lost control going around a curb and spun out and went into a wall. He got a couple of bruises but he had to get back on the motorcycle and make it happen. That's how it goes. I was pissed. I was really ticked off because I was like, 'What were you doing on a motorcycle?'"

"I, Robot" was a box office hit, at the very least. Still, as Smith pointed out, everyone was shook by the accident.