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Eagle-eyed viewers who have seen The Roses<\/em>, the new dark comedy starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman, may have noticed an unexpected, familiar name as part of the final credit scroll. Amongst a stacked supporting cast which includes Andy Samberg, Allison Janney, and Kate McKinnon, Will Smith is credited with playing the role of Derek. But it may not be the Will Smith you\u2019re expecting.<\/p>\n The character of Derek appears very early on in the movie, in a single scene set in Cumberbatch\u2019s office before he and Colman flee London for California. The role is indeed filled by Will Smith, but not the Fresh Prince<\/em> star many of us associate with the name. William James Smith, who\u2019s credited as Will Smith in The Roses<\/em>, is a British stand-up comedian, author, producer, and actor best known for his behind-the-scenes roles.<\/p>\n Smith was a co-writer and producer on HBO\u2019s acclaimed series Veep<\/em>, and for the past several years he\u2019s served as showrunner on Apple TV+\u2019s mega-hit Slow Horses<\/em>. (Smith left the series ahead of season five, handing the reins to a new showrunner.) His acting roles have been more limited, though prior to The Roses<\/em> he appeared in Paddington<\/em> (2014) and Michael Winterbottom\u2019s Greed<\/em> (2019).<\/p>\n Smith\u2019s credit has led to some confusion online considering he\u2019s credited with the same name as one of the world\u2019s most recognizable actors. Typically, the Screen Actor\u2019s Guild requires each individual actor to have a unique professional name to avoid crediting confusion, as well as to preserve each person\u2019s professional brand. If an actor\u2019s name is already in use, then the second actor must in some way alter their name to avoid confusion. However, if the British Will Smith is not a member of SAG\/AFTRA, these steps may be null and void. The Roses<\/em> was shot in New South Wales, Australia, meaning it may answer to different rules in regards to casting and crediting.<\/p>\n At the London premiere, Smith told Hey U Guys<\/em> that appearing in such a starry production was well beyond his wildest dreams. \u201cIf I could tell my childhood self that this will happen, that I\u2019d be at a premiere for a film like this. I\u2019ve only got four lines, but I\u2019m still in it. I\u2019m still here!\u201d he said. Of his experience shooting with Cumberbatch, Smith said: \u201cIt\u2019s amazing, you just sit there going, \u2018That\u2019s Benedict Cumberbatch.\u2019 And also, it\u2019s made me really cool with my kids. I will not lie, a big part of the draw was being able to go, \u2018I worked with Dr. Strange today.\u2019 I get a lot of points for this, so, thank you, Benedict.\u201d<\/p>\n This story was originally reported by Men’s Journal<\/a> on Sep 2, 2025, where it first appeared in the Entertainment<\/a> section. Add Men’s Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Eagle-eyed viewers who have seen The Roses, the new dark comedy starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman, may have noticed an unexpected, familiar name as part of the final credit scroll. Amongst a stacked supporting cast which includes Andy Samberg, Allison Janney, and Kate McKinnon, Will Smith is credited with playing the role of Derek. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1999399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[356046,352416,360290,307920,362983],"class_list":["post-1999398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-benedict-cumberbatch","tag-olivia-colman","tag-the-roses","tag-will-smith","tag-william-james-smith"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Who-Does-Will-Smith-Play-in-The-Roses.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1999398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1999398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1999398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1999399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1999398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1999398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1999398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Movie Stars Will Smith, But Not the Fresh Prince Actor<\/h2>\n
Smith Thrilled to Be Part of a Major Film<\/h2>\n
The Roses<\/em> is currently in cinemas nationwide.<\/h3>\n