Actor Will Smith may not have starred in the new reboot of Anaconda. But the Hollywood icon got up close and person with the world's biggest snake species in real life.
Smith is starring in a new National Geographic travel series called Pole to Pole with Will Smith. In that series, Smith embraces his wild side. A clip, via LiveScience, shows the actor visiting Ecuador. In the clip, he's taking a boat down the river. He's accompanying venom expert Bryan Fry, expedition leader Carla Perez and Indigenous Waorani guides.
The group spotted a giant anaconda on the banks of the river. Deciding to stop, the group attempted to immobilize the reptile. Fry wanted one of its scales for his research. Smith was along for the ride on this one.
Will Smith Gets Close To The Snake
"Let them try to control this," Fry said.
"That's gigantic. Wow!" the actor said about the size of the snake.
The group immobilized the snake so the two could get closer. Smith exclaimed, "That was scary, even from the boat." Fry explained to the actor that the scale could be used to "measure the accumulation of pollutants in the water." But they would need the scale from its belly. He then asked the actor to help him collect it.
"Yeah, nah. I'm a little nervous," Smith told Fry. But the researcher encouraged him. He asked him to "wipe away any little mud and debris" from the animal's belly.
Fry then cut off one of the scales. The researcher exclaimed, "There you go. There's our sample. We can do all the research on this animal with just that one tiny little piece."
"That's fantastic," Smith said as he held up the sample.
The sample will help with their research. But for the actor, it's a memory he will never forget.
