Romeo Santos halted Will Smith TV project to focus on music

Latin pop star Romeo Santos had to walk away from the opportunity to work with Will Smith on an acting project because he didn’t want to abandon fans of his music.
The Promise hitmaker was tapped to star in a semi-autobiographical comedy series produced by Will and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith back in 2011, with the show expected to begin filming in 2012.
However, Santos decided to put the project on hold after realising the shoot would require months of commitment.
“At one point I was going to do a project in acting with Will and Jada, which I know hit the media,” he tells RollingStone.com. “And when I heard (filming would take) six or seven months, I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I would love to, but I got fans to feed (with new music).’ I didn’t know how much of my time and work was needed. I did say that I would do it, but that it wasn’t the (right) moment.”
The show has still yet to materialise, but Santos has since scored small parts in movies like Furious 7 in 2015 and The Angry Birds Movie last year (16), and he isn’t ruling out the possibility of seriously dedicating some more time to build up his acting resume in the near future, after playing the role of an FBI agent in his recent music video for Imitadora.
“I’ve always loved acting, and I do respect the craft,” he says. “I don’t want to be that guy (that turns to acting) because of my status as a musician. It takes a lot of practice and discipline, just like I’ve done it in the music business.
“If I don’t have anything going on with music, then I would like to do that, but right now I’m so focused on (everything that I do musically).”
Santos released his new album, Golden, last week (21Jul17).