photograph James White text Michael Fleming

Irresistible charisma and a knack for rhyming put Will Smith into America’s homes, but it was science fiction that made him one of the world’s most bankable movie stars. Not to mention the unofficial king of the July 4 weekend, thanks to the massive success of Independence Day and the two Men in Black pictures. Alas, when Sony moved Spider-Man 2 to June 30, 20th Century Fox bumped I, Robot from its long-scheduled July 2 release date to July 16. So it wasn’t surprising that the kid from Philly was a bit riled about giving up what he has come to regard as his personal opening weekend. It therefore must have been especially sweet when I, Robot earned $52.3 million in its opening weekend – a career best for Smith.
Although he passed on the role of Neo in The Matrix trilogy, Smith is relying on sci-fi to reaffirm that summertime belongs to him. Directed by Dark City’s Alex Proyas, I, Robot gives the $20-million-a-picture superstar the chance to save the planet once again when he takes on lethal titular machines in a film inspired by Isaac Asimov’s classic story collection.
With a Grammy-winning rap career as a springboard, Smith began his acting career in 1990 with a starring role in the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. He made his transition to film as a homeless teen in the indie drama Where the Day Takes You in 1992, followed by a stunning performance as a gay hustler in Six Degrees of Separation. Two years later, he became a bona-fide leading man in the surprise hit Bad Boys (an action-comedy originally developed for Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz), co-starring Martin Lawrence, another fast-rising sitcom star. Smith survived the failure of Wild Wild West then rebounded with an interesting supporting performance opposite Matt Damon in Robert Redford’s elegant golf saga The Legend of Bagger Vance.
The role of Smith’s career to date came when he teamed with director Michael Mann on the biopic Ali. Although the stylish film’s box office didn’t justify its $105 million budget, it did earn the thirty-five-year-old an Oscar nomination for his performance.
Seeking to expand into production, Smith teamed with longtime friend and manager James Lassiter to form Overbrook Entertainment, an enterprise that developed the UPN comedy All of Us and Last First Kiss, Smith’s first romantic comedy. The film bows next year and co-stars Eva Mendes.
Among Smith’s varied business holdings is a travel agency, and for his sit-down with Fade In he used it to arrange some secluded hang time on the balcony of 16 Thompson, a posh downtown Manhattan hotel. In conversation, Smith’s boundless confidence is evident, as are a kindness and playfulness that have always been part of the package. You know he’s a world-famous movie star, but you could easily imagine him sitting on your couch watching a football game just the same.

We read that you passed on an academic scholarship to MIT– Well, so the legend has it. [Laughs]

–and you topped out around 1460 on your SAT, then broke your mother’s heart by going into the music business. Did your folks beat you up about it? No, it was really just, “Take a year, and if this rap thing doesn’t work out...” That’s probably the best decision that my parents ever made for me: to just let me take a year off. It was probably a little bit of having fun and a little bit of laziness. Because at that point, I didn’t realize that rap could be a career. I knew I could make some quick money though. I knew I could get a house and a car. That’s where I was psychologically . Even if I hadn’t succeeded the way that I’ve succeeded, it was absolutely the best decision. The worst death is living with a “What if I had...?” And for anybody out there who’s on the cusp of having to make a decision about whether or not they’re going to follow their dreams, there’s a book called The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, which is the cleanest, clearest picture of the necessity to follow what you dream at all costs. And I worked my alchemy on hip-hop.

In the course of that first year, you won a Grammy. Uh-huh, the first Grammy ever given to a rapper.

You started out as a rap artist when hip-hop became a business. For better or worse, how has rap changed since you first appeared on the scene? The first number that we came out with was in June ’86, and that summer Salt-n-Pepa released, Eric B. & Rakim, Public Enemy…there was Heavy D, LL Cool J, Run-D.M.C. The big difference is that there were no real similar artists. Everyone had a really distinct perspective. And even though people were just dropping their first albums and only just becoming famous, they were already veteran performers. That was because of the nature of the party scene in hip-hop that came before people’s first records. If there’s a big difference now, it is the lack of stage time, the amount of mic time that new artists had prior to [recording] a CD. So that inevitably is going to pull the overall quality down. But lyrically, the best of today are equal, if not better, poets than the best who came from the golden age of hip-hop. That mid-’80s era is really the golden age of hip-hop.

Who do you listen to now? Kanye West is really intriguing to me – his music and his perspective, his artistic freedom. I really envy and admire the freedom that OutKast takes for themselves. I’ve always had this desperate need for my records to play in every corner of the world. I don’t want there to be a place that I could go and people haven’t heard my record. That’s pressure, and it affects me sometimes. My purest records, only my family and friends have heard.

You’re not recording for Columbia anymore, right? No.

Even though you’ve been very successful for the label. Uh-huh.

Do you still plan to record? I’ve got an album done, and I’m trying to find the right company to work with over the next couple of years.

Was Columbia Records dropping you from the label a slap in the face, given that you’ve made them a lot of money? No. The bottom line is, it’s a business, and that’s the thing that’s really difficult for artists. This is a business that’s based on numbers. It’s up to the artist to create the direction, but it’s not up to the artist to maintain the direction; it gets out of your hands. So with Columbia, we sold a lot of records, but who cares at the end of the day? I’m a veteran at this game. I was on Jive when the same thing happened; moved to Columbia, the same thing happened. So the bottom line is, it’s about delivering fiscally. You can make a company $100 million one year and lose them seven fifty the next, and they’ll drop you.

But how can you not take it personally? This is you putting your poetry out there. It has to be more personal than acting. Oh, it’s much more personal. As an actor, you’re just a tool for a director. But as a musician, that’s your whole life and all your thoughts and all of your feelings.

Despite that, you can handle the rejection? Yeah. That’s the nature of the game. I use that for fuel. And, for the most part, my perspective on my life is that it has been relatively free of adversity. So I welcome a little fumble once in a while.

Eminem called you out for not using curse words not long ago, even though he probably grew up humming “Summertime” and riding home on his bike to watch Fresh Prince of Bel Air – Oh, yeah. [Laughs]

As a rap artist, is it wrong to not have curse words in your lyrics? It was absolutely a conscious decision [by me]. I guess what that really comes down to is, everybody is not special. And what makes the special people special is that everybody is not special. Some people are normal. Some people choose to be normal; some people choose to be special. And generally, and historically, if everybody’s doing it, it’s probably not the best way. Everybody thought the world was flat, that the earth was the center of the universe. So I’m generally leery of things that everybody conforms to, intellectually.

Even if it’s considered edgy? Right. I avoid trends, except the ones that I set. Just through my comprehension and study of history, ninety percent of the people don’t have a clue, and there’s a certain ten-percent elite who show the way. They’re the outcasts who are ridiculed, and then 100 years later [everyone says], “Oh, wow! Einstein might not have been a moron.” [Laughs]

When Eminem takes your style to task, does it bother you? Well, I’ve heard some of the stuff he said about other people. So when he said, “Will Smith doesn’t have to curse to sell records, but I do,” that said it all.

It’s almost like reverse pandering. Right, yeah. [Laughs] You know, Eminem and I are very clear about what the truth is.

It’s interesting that you are at odds. Of all the performers who crossed from hip-hop to movies, probably the strongest raw performances came from you in Six Degrees of Separation and him in Eight Mile. Right. It’s difficult for me… As an actor, I have a comprehension of what it takes to create certain moments. So I look at people’s performances with different eyes. I’m interested to see what he does next.

Let’s talk about Ali. The film didn’t do as well at the box office as was expected. What happened? It’s not one of those kinds of films.

What kind of film is it? The type that caters to an audience with a certain amount of knowledge of the situation. It’s not a film you can come into blind and just sit there. You really have to pay attention, and you have to have a little bit of information before you come in. It was absolutely a passion for me and Michael Mann. The Oscar nomination would have been worth me paying to make the film.

So you got what you hoped for out of the experience? Absolutely.

The film was obviously a transforming experience. Name something that you learned about yourself while making the film that you didn’t know before. I discovered that I am as disciplined as I’ve always thought I could be. I always had to question my discipline because I’ve always been a chronic B-student. And I always knew that I had another gear, that there’s a level of discipline and a necessity for discipline to being successful that I’ve never had to turn on to that degree. I guess I proved to myself that I do have another gear. But it was also bittersweet for me. I realized, during making that film, that history will remember me as interesting but not great, because there’ll never be the level of adversity that needs to be overcome for greatness; it’s not something that will foreseeably be interjected into my life. I got to touch and taste what it means to be great. But I just have to swallow the bitter pill that I’ll never be able to be that.

Jamie Foxx, who played Drew “Bundini” Brown in Ali, said he had to remind you that the champ never hit his trainer. He said you’d playfully throw jabs and people would double over. Are you still training? Definitely still training. Not as much as I need to. But I’m definitely trying to keep to form, keep the shape, at least for the next six or seven years.

So you could still drop the average person? [Laughs] It doesn’t take but one lesson. Just tell your boxing trainer, “Now, I only want to take one lesson. Just tell me what I need to know; give me a sense of what’s going to happen out there.” If you’re drinking in a club and some guy’s going to get drunk, you’re going to have an argument. He’s going to put his right foot back and he’s going to heave his right hand at you ninety-seven percent of the time. Knowing that is coming just changes the entire world. Right? It makes me so calm and relaxed. In my mind, I’m thinking, “Dude, you so don’t want to get punched right now.”

So what’s the move? Step back, avoid the punch and counter? I like to ride it on the shoulder and fire back. Just take it on the shoulder, give him a bit of the top of the head and shoulder and fire back.

But that means you deliberately allow him to hit you. Oh, yeah. Oh, God! Yes! I grew up in Philly. So I grew up with the Philly fighter mentality. I like a good, clean shot to rile me up a little bit. Somebody hits me with a good, clean shot – that is what really pisses me off.

Ali was a lot like Six Degrees in that you got to show your real chops as an actor. But people love you in popcorn films like ID4, Bad Boys and Men in Black. Do you feel it’s important to do more dramatic roles in order to avoid being stereotyped? I don’t feel trapped in stereotypes or genres. I don’t find myself trapped in genres at all. I feel very free to make what I want to make. The audience will go or not go, but I don’t view individual films individually. Each is a brushstroke toward my legacy. People say, “Don’t you want to do more Six Degrees and Ali?” Yeah, and I will. But, at this point, I’m thirty-five. I’ve got six or seven more years of running and jumping and shooting. You don’t want to be that dude that makes one more action movie. [Laughs]

Where people are wondering, “Gosh, is that stunt going to break his hip?” No. I do not want to be that dude.

In Man On Fire, Denzel Washington has an authority that comes with maturity. Are you looking forward to growing into that kind of maturity as an actor? There’ll be a point where I’ll be able to settle down and focus on another aspect of my career. But there is nothing like opening your film in July. That is such a rush for me, and at this point, there’s only certain types of films that travel internationally. They are almost exclusively special-effects films. With I, Robot, we’re doing a premiere in Moscow and I’m trying to get one in Beijing. That’s a struggle, but I’d like it to be the first American movie premiere in Beijing. Big summer movies are the only movies you’ll be able to do that with. You won’t be able to do it with a small, romantic comedy.

Who knew you had a constituency in Russia? Do you? Yeah.

Where are you strongest? You always hear DiCaprio is a god in Japan. Germany, France, Japan and England are the major markets outside of the United States that are fairly strong with the nature of the movies that I make. So I would say those are probably the four places where I make the most money. But I have traveled throughout Africa, and I’ve premiered my last two movies in South Africa and Mozambique and Ghana. I’m going into Moscow, and trying to get into Beijing. I’ll go to South America. My goal is to be the most famous actor on the face of the earth.

Really? Yeah. I don’t want there to be a crevice on the planet that people don’t recognize my face. And the thing is, striking when you have the type of film that will translate. Every human being on the face of the earth wants to see what robots are going to look like in 2035. So, subtitled or not, the story will sell.

I, Robot kicked around for a little bit with other actors and directors attached at different points. What made you say yes? I’m a science-fiction junkie, first of all. I’m a gadget dude. Whatever the latest gadget is, I want to see it: How does it work, all of that. It’s really important to me that whatever the latest operating system is [laughs], I got to have that.

So you got the BlackBerry? Oh! All of that stuff. A movie like I, Robot… first and foremost, the Isaac Asimov stories are brilliant. And the concept that human logic is fallible, is interesting to me. Not even human logic, Western logic. The concept of Western logic is fallible. The concept that two plus two may not be four is really interesting to me. And the movie, in one of the major twists, really explores the limits of human logic. That is just so straight up my alley of where I am in my life right now and my progress of thinking and understanding me, and understanding Jada, and understanding the universe and how that affects our relationships and how to be a better father… [It’s] so perfectly where my head is right now.

Is the film also a cautionary tale about more controversial issues like the ability to genetically select our kids? Right, right, right, right. Oh, absolutely. It doesn’t directly discuss those concepts, but it absolutely shows a potential worst-case scenario of being hellbent on disconnecting ourselves from the flow of the Tao, and thinking that we can direct the flow of the Tao. Just how arrogant is it to think that you can pick the type of child that you want from pre-semen and egg? [Laughs] That type of scientific exploration has always been interesting to me. And the potential galactic ramifications are intriguing.

You admired the way Ali had the foresight and courage to stand by his convictions and oppose the Vietnam War at a time when few celebs were doing that. People are asking similar questions about Iraq and why we’ve sent our young men there and put them in danger. Are you struck by the parallel? What’s so hard about that for me, and really hypocritical and arrogant of a lot of people, is to think that you can even have an opinion of whether or not we should go into Iraq. I’ve never been to Iraq. I don’t know anybody who lives in Iraq. I only have one friend who’s a soldier who was actually in Baghdad. So I only know one person who’s ever actually been to Iraq. How is it possible that I could make an informed decision on whether or not we need to be in Iraq? I can make a decision on what I think the job of America and Americans should be or could be in the world. But it’s almost foolish to ask the American public to make a decision on whether or not Saddam Hussein needs to be removed from power.

Do you mean that we should rely on our leaders to make those determinations? Or that we, as a nation, should stop policing other countries? We should exhaust the power we have, pay a little more attention to who [we] elect because our system of government is the greatest individual system of government that’s ever been designed. But man is always going to get his hand on it and illuminate the shit of it. So you can’t be apathetic for fifteen years and then go out and protest something when you have no idea, or support something when you have no idea. Who took down the Twin Towers? Who did that? You can’t tell me conclusively who did that. All we know is what CNN says. The power that we have as Americans is holding our officials accountable. Because the bottom line is that we don’t have a choice but to trust when the president of the United States sits on television and says, “There are people in need, and we have to respond.” If we can’t trust that, then somebody needs to get kicked out of office. That’s the only position that we have, to trust our elected officials.

Michael Moore has just released Fahrenheit 9/11, a documentary very critical of George W. Bush and his handling of the conflicts in the Middle East. Is it unpatriotic to place a sitting president in such bad light? Well, I would have to say: Define “patriotic.” Because I believe that Michael Moore feels that he’s absolutely doing the most patriotic thing that he could possibly do. As Americans who travel the world, we’re held responsible for the actions of our country. I haven’t seen Michael Moore’s film, but it’s either true or it’s not. And as Americans, we have to have the information in order to make a decision as to whether or not we’re going to re-elect this dude. So I would say he’s absolutely doing his patriotic duty.

Didn’t you say, early in your career, that you might run for president someday? Still want the job? No. Actually, I’ve never said I’d like to be the president. I said that I could, if I wanted to. But I don’t want to. [Laughs]