George Clooney is often tagged as the new Cary Grant, and I don't dispute the man's charm, talent and impossibly good looks. (He's even more handsome in person. It's true.)
But I think that comparison can be made just as aptly with Will Smith. He has the same affable screen presence, effortless charm, terrific comic timing and range of talent that made Grant the favorite of studio heads and directors - most notably, Alfred Hitchcock. He's one fine-looking man as well.
Now the Internets are buzzing with a rumor that Will Smith may remake Suspicion, and most are pooh-poohing the idea. I say bring it on.
Remember that the studios made Hitchcock paste a ridiculous, happier ending than he wanted on this creepy story of a new husband who may or may not be planning to murder his wife. Good as it is, the original Suspicion wasn't the movie it could have been.
Nobody will ever be Hitchcock again, and nobody should try (witness Gus Vant Sant's disastrous shot-for-shot remake of Psycho). But I think Will Smith - with the right director - might be able to make a good movie out of the raw material of Suspicion, and make it his own. We'll see.
Smith at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in December, by Chris Jackson/Getty Images
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