Will Smithlightened the mood after a confrontation happened in a film festival crowd while he was speaking onstage.
During day five of the 37th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Sunday, the actor, 53, and hisKing Richardcostar Aunjanue Ellis discussed their movie and accepted the outstanding performer of the year award.
“Is she okay?” asked Smith as he held a hand up to block the stage lights and look into the crowd.
A woman in attendance shouted an explanation, saying someone “totally just poured a drink on us because we said, ‘This is f—–g amazing.’ Apparently we’re being too loud. But we love you, Will.”
Smith then joked to Ellis, “That’s why it’s really important to have white audiences, ‘cause that would have gone very differently at either place where we grew up. So I wanna commend the white people for how y’all handled that. You wanna act out the scene, how it would’ve been if someone poured a drink on you?”
As the audience laughed, Ellis, 53, pretended to take off her earrings and heels as if she were getting ready for a fight. Then, trying to get back on track, Smith said with a laugh, “You’re not gonna make it back from that, Scott! You can try.”
Rebecca Sapp/Getty Images
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Smith and Ellis bothreceived Oscar nominationsthis year for playing husband and wife Richard Williams and Oracene Williams, the parents of tennis superstars Venus andSerena Williams.
Ellis recently toldtheLos Angeles Timesabout portraying the real-life matriarch of the sports family and setting out to show what Oracene would “want the world to know about her experience.”
“People see her in the stands but they don’t know her. Nobody knows that she was their coach … but she was. So I just wanted to speak as well as I could for her and feel okay about it when I was done,” Ellis said, adding of Oracene’s reaction to the movie, “She said, ‘Great job.’ Just two words. But that was enough for me.”
source: people.com
