RICHARD BLACKWOOD REJECTS MOVIE

[ 2 September 2000 ]

TV star Richard Blackwood tells Popcorn that he's been turning down some high-profile movie offers to concentrate on his music career. "I've had two movie offers," the Channel 4 star reveals, "I had 'The Mummy 2' and I had 'Tomb Raider'. It was really weird, because I always wanted to do movies - and I still do - but it's my music [career] that's stopping me." Blackwood claims that the producers wanted him to play Lara Croft's assistant in 'Tomb Raider', and it's this part in particular that he regrets having to reject . "I would've had a big part - [the character] is a mad scientist - and you could just make it really funny. I was thinking, 'That's the one', and I couldn't do it because of my music commitments."

Instead, Blackwood is concentrating on his music career (a new single, '1,2,3,4, Get With The Wicked', is out on Monday) and hoping to eventually go straight to Hollywood to star in a movie with the man he's most frequently compared to - Will Smith. "I'd love to be in 'Bad Boys 2'," Blackwood grins, "but it depends on whether I'm discovered [in America] by that time. "The good thing is I know Will Smith's making the Muhammad Ali film, which means give it a year and hopefully by that time I'll be fighting my way up there. So when it's time for 'Bad Boys 2' they'll be like, 'We want him as well.'"