Will Smith just finished putting out the cinematic dumpster fire that was After Earth by watching his new film, Focus, rake in a cool $20 million during its opening weekend. Surprisingly, Smith’s character’s interracial love affair with Jess (played by Margot Robbie) got little reaction.
photo: WENN
Whether that’s due to Smith having already done it in Hitch, or the movies catching up to society is anyone’s guess. In celebration of swirly love everywhere, here are 15 interracial movie couples.
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Photo: WENN
Zoe Saldana and Ashton Kutcher
Before she was turning us all into thirst buckets at the Oscars, Zoe Saldana had Aston Kutcher sprung in a loose remake of Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner. It’s hard to blame him.
Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton
Halle won the Oscar for Monster’s Ball making one simple demand of Billy Bob Thornton (wait for it): “Make me feel good.” There are millions of men and women still up for the challenge.
Nia Long and Eddie Cibrian
Best Man Holiday offered a surprise in the form of Nia Long being down with some swirly love. She got playfully teased about her new love interest, but it was a nice plot twist.
photo: WENN
Will Smith and Margot Robbie
Never mix business and pleasure. No spoiler alerts here, but if you’ve seen the trailer for Focus, then you probably have a sneaking suspicion these two hooked up.
Aaliyah and Jet Li
The 2000 movie Romeo Must Die was pretty much saved by an awkward yet endearing romance between Aaliyah and Jet Li. Who knew a martial arts flavored reboot of Romeo And Juliet would work?
Mike Epps and Eva Mendes
While it wasn’t an Oscar-worthy performance, Eva Mendes was the ultimate thug wifey in All About The Benjamins. Any woman who can break you out of a pair of cuffs is a keeper.
Terrance Howard and Taryn Manning
There’s a thin line between love and pimping. Before Terrance Howard was torn between Anika and Cookie, he was pimping both Nola and Shug in 2005’s Hustle & Flow.
Sanaa Lathan and Simon Baker
Once upon a time in 2006, someone thought it would be a good idea to cast Sanaa Lathan opposite the guy from The Mentalist in a formulaic movie about an interracial romance.
Julia Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas
The union between these two in Save The Last Dance is arguably the most corny in all of cinema.
Tom Cruise and Thandie Newton
We knew it was real in Mission: Impossible II because Thandie Newton’s character Nyla had that die slow virus and Tom Cruise was still sprung. It wasn’t as bad as jumping on Oprah Winfrey’s couch, but still.
Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner
The Bodyguard was winning for the soundtrack alone, but Whitney was wisely cast as a beautiful diva with equal amounts of talent and attitude who put that thing on Kevin Costner’s character. If you’re going to simp, make sure she is considerably richer and more famous than you. Church.
Taral Hicks and Lilo Brancato
There’s a lot of subtext with Robert De Niro directing this, but A Bronx Tale remains one of the OG tales of inner-city swirly love.
Denzel Washington and Kelly Reilly
After years of allegedly dodging the interracial kiss (are we really going to count Jake Shuttlesworth with that prostitute in He Got Game?), Denzel’s character went in during the 2012 movie Flight.
Wesley Snipes and Anabella Sciorra
Spike Lee’s 1991 drama may not have invented the term “Jungle Fever,” but it seemingly canonized it. In a case of art imitating life, you never know the true test of an interracial relationship until you both get pulled over by the police.
Sidney Poitier and Katherine Houghton
The discussion of well-executed interracial affairs in cinema usually starts and ends with the original Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner.
