MaxFly

Earlier, Lerkot said... If you're going to agree with Lerkot, you two need to coordinate and get the talking points down...

:rofl: @ Lerk getting owned... Better MooseKnuckles than me.

Lol, Jaden's hilarious.

Not at all. The point I was making was that there's a double standard. I think that there are people who feel that those who aren't feeling his music but are fans of his movies aren't true fans.

Finally. This is good because most of the arguments levied here against the movie are shallow and contrived. If that's the best they can do, this movie really is going to be good. I just wanted to hear some of the arguments against it.

I'm simply defining the question and making a point. I think there's a double standard when it comes to Will's movies and his music. If tomorrow, Will were to say that he was quitting movies for music and people were saying that they would no longer support him, or that they wouldn't run out to the record store to buy his album on the first day, or wouldn't continue to tune into whatever talk show he's on when he's talking about music, I think many people wouldn't consider them real fans of Will, or fairweather fans. I know someone will say, "Well music is more personal." True, but in the long interview Will had recently, he got very personal. I don't think that Will does music simply to sell albums, but I think we tend to underestimate the amount of work it takes to put out an album, not get some of the tracks you want on it, promote it, and then for the production company to screw you and you come away looking bad. The poster I responded to said that if Will promoted his albums more, he'd sell more. I introduced Interscope to this discussion to point out that there are a lot of other factors and it's not as easy as Will doing more promotion. Also, what would people's response be if Lerkot went around saying that Will was a bad rapper or sucked as a rapper?

It's one thing to respect someone as an artist/person... Don't get it twisted... this thread isn't about whether people will still respect Will. It's about whether people will support him in his other endeavors. Not everyone who respects you actively supports you, and that active support is exactly what this thread is about. Will people still go out to see his movies? Will they continue to follow his career? Will they continue to read acrticles about him that they know aren't related to music? Will they tune into Oprah when they know that he's promoting another movie or charity and he isn't going to be talking about music? Will they tune into Leno and Letterman knowing that he isn't going to be talking about music? There's active support and then there's mere respect. People who respect him will say nice things about him, will listen to his previous albums, may watch him on television if he happens to be on. People who actively support him will do all those things and more. They'll go out of their way to keep up with what he's doing. That's the real question. Is Will going to continue to garner that active support? It's not that easy. We had a long running discussion about this when Lost and Found came out, and while most of us agreed that Will could have done more, almost everyone agreed that Interscope was the real problem and the state of the industry was likely secondary, with people not being able to recognize real music even if it drop kicked them and took their Christmas money.

True indeed.

Good, even more motivation not to shed tears... I was like a rock all through The Sound of Music and Titanic... I should be good hear.

It seems that POH is making people cry left and right lately, so I though I'd create an official thread.

Yeah, Will's starting to get heavy Oscar buzz and the movie hasn't even come out yet. Almost everyone who's seen it and have given a review as mentioned that it's likely that Will or the film itself will receive an Oscar nomination.

gettyimages

Will Smith gets serious If you're keeping score, he's at peace with roles as superstar actor, husband and father By Mark Caro Tribune entertainment reporter Published December 3, 2006 Will Smith might be considered an expert on the subject of happiness, and not just because he's starring in a new movie called "The Pursuit of Happyness." He also comes across as the planet's most well-adjusted superstar -- and one of the more inquisitive ones. "I've been reading a lot about what is happiness, and I feel Aristotle had the best idea," the 38-year-old actor said while seated in the stately wood-paneled McCormick Room atop Tribune Tower. "He broke it down in the Nicomachean Ethics. Like for me it feels directly and inexorably connected to self-esteem. "So I always explain it as: Think of yourself as two people, and one of them is inside of you, and he's a scorekeeper. And he keeps score of your idea of the world. ... And when you have a conflict with your scorekeeper, that's unhappiness. Happiness is being completely in sync" -- he slapped his palms together -- "with your own perception of goodness." He spoke in clear, crisp tones, his pacing deliberate not out of pretension but precision. His mind, his eyes, his whole body appeared to be engaged in the subject matter at hand. His attire, of course, was impeccable, a GQ-ready suit-vest-boots combination in chocolate shades that complemented the room's wood tones. All that was missing was the pipe. He's as tall as you might expect but less beefy; he has shed his "Ali" bulk and looks fit for running. He hasn't, however, shed that boyish spark that made him the king of 4th of July weekend (with such hits as "Independence Day" and "Men in Black") and just about any other time of the year, but there's an added weight to his presence, if not his body. That gravitas may be the most startling aspect of his performance in "The Pursuit of Happyness," which opens Dec. 15. He plays a salesman trying to lift himself and his 5-year-old son out of deep poverty by earning a widely coveted position as a stockbroker. If Smith has a knock against him, it's for being too ingratiating with audiences, but neither he nor the character he portrays -- Chris Gardner, an actual guy -- ask for your sympathy even when you wouldn't blame him for seeking some love. Smith's performance has such a calm, solid center that when his eyes well up toward the end of the movie, the moment packs more of an emotional wallop than all of his triumphant whooping in "Independence Day." Chicago-based screenwriter Steven Conrad ("The Weather Man") said he was excited to craft "Pursuit" with Smith in mind because the actor (and producer) just seemed ready to pop, thanks to a combination of factors. "I think it's maturity meets power," Conrad said. "He's a powerful guy. His light shines really brightly, and it's not even totally a force-of-personality thing. It's the machine works, the brain works." Smith certainly donned his thinking cap when it came to translating Gardner's story to the screen. He and the other producers were drawn to Gardner through his 2003 appearance on "20/20," in which he movingly described camping out in a San Francisco subway bathroom with his son (an infant in real life) before turning his life around. Gardner currently is president of the Chicago-based brokerage firm Gardner Rich & Co. When it came time to choose a director, Smith threw out an unconventional choice: Gabriele Muccino, the Italian director of "The Last Kiss" (not the Zach Braff remake) and "Remember Me, My Love," both films admired by the actor. "He didn't really speak English, and I went and talked to him, and he said one thing, and I was like, `This is the dude,'" Smith recalled. "He said, `Even if you don't hire me for this film, I don't think you should hire an American, because Americans don't understand the American dream.' I was like, `Wow.' It really took a minute for me to think about it and process it, the idea that this is the only country in the world where Chris Gardner could exist." The word "idea" crops up often in conversation with Smith, and he emphasizes it each time. Ideas drive him, and he appreciates that the movie has a big one at its center; it takes its title from a Declaration of Independence line that is misspelled on a day-care center wall, much to Gardner's annoyance. "I believe the world moves on ideas," Smith said. "America is great because it is the most sound governmental idea that has ever existed: All men are created equal, and everyone should have the right to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That is such a sound idea, and I believe that my job is to create images that illuminate ideas that create something in human beings to do good things." He feels that way about his work now. He feelsthat way about his starring gig on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," his '90s sitcom that traded on his family-friendly rapper persona. Someone recently told him that his dying mother wanted to watch only "The Fresh Prince" while in the hospital; Smith lives for such revelations. "What those images created for that woman gives me that feeling of happiness," Smith said, "that I'm making something in the world, I'm producing something in the world, that there's a blip, however small the blip is on the universal wave chart, that I am making a positive blip." He derives even more happiness when he is at work and he attains what he calls "acting nirvana." Smith's own son with wife/actress Jada Pinkett Smith, Jaden, plays Chris Gardner's son onscreen, and when the father and child spend that night in the subway bathroom, it's the movie's most heartbreaking scene -- and the one that filled the actor with the most happiness. "As an actor you look to be transported, and you actually forget for however a brief moment -- you actually convince yourself that you're in a situation, you're there, you're in a moment," he said. "And that happened to me in that scene. A lot of that was because it was my son. I was actually laying down in this bathroom with my son, my real-life son, so it wasn't difficult to imagine how that would feel. You just know it's going to connect [with audiences] because it was so natural, so pure." Working with Jaden, he said, felt like "cheating" because he didn't have to establish a relationship or learn to project the proper emotions when, say, they're running across a busy street and he reaches back to grab the boy's hand. The actor's father, who sold refrigeration equipment and ice to supermarkets and still lives in Philadelphia, informed his performance as well. "The body movement I chose was my father," Smith said. "Hunched over a little bit, the slower more deliberate talk when he's around black people, and then a very specific uptone, faster speech pattern around white people. My father was bi-dialectal. That was always interesting to me that he had the business way he talked, and when he came home, everything came down a notch, a little slower, a little more drawl, different words, more ebonic-ly driven." He laughed. Talking with Smith, watching him interact on Michigan Avenue with admirers who don't hesitate to approach him despite a cluster of handlers, seeing him engage with the framed Jeff MacNelly editorial cartoons upstairs and the inspirational quotes etched into the Tribune Tower's lobby, you can't help but come away thinking that this is a man very comfortable with who he is. "It's no surprise that he seems contented," Conrad said. "He just is a guy who looks around the room and figures it out. He was exceptional to work with and for. He was deeply respectful and had a real good sense of propriety and strength. He was the coolest." Pause. "He really is. I'll sound like a [jerk] if you print that, but it's just true, and I'm not going to not say it." Let's get back to that scorekeeper of his. Smith said he was most out of sync with it -- and thus unhappy -- when his first marriage, to Sheree Zampino, was falling apart in the mid-'90s. "It was because my scorekeeper was screaming, `You don't believe in divorce! You don't believe in divorce!'" he said. And when were he and his scorekeeper most aligned? "Probably in the last six or seven weeks, I've been happier than I've ever been based on Jada and I finding a new stride and new connection in our relationship," he said. "I haven't been unhappy ever in my marriage, but everybody has the ups and downs, and I would say we are at the highest peak we've ever been now, which adds to my happiness because I feel like I am the best husband I've ever been." Many would say his acting has followed the same trajectory. Thirteen years after he first showcased his dramatic chops in "Six Degrees of Separation" and five years after his Oscar-nominated turn in "Ali," Smith has given a performance that could transform his image from charismatic movie star to acting heavyweight. But that doesn't mean he's overly impressed with his latest accomplishment. Which is actually harder, a dramatic role like this or performing in a romantic comedy or action movie? "Well, comedy is harder than anything," he said. "There's nothing as hard as comedy. With drama if your dog dies, your dog dying is emotional everywhere in the world. But there's a joke that'll be hilarious in Chicago, and people won't get it in New York." Still, you're more likely to get nominated for an Oscar for "The Pursuit of Happyness" than "Hitch." "Yes," he laughed. "Yeah, that's true." Great article. Thanks TopDawg.

Yeah, I've been using that site for awhile now to check out what websites used to look like back in the day. In fact, I think we had a thread about what JJFP used to look like with a link that archive.org

Thanks!!

Definitely a great read.

Never thought I'd ever root for Ja Rule, but I'm looking for anyone to put an end to you know who.

Unfortunately, I don't have Starz? Does anyone else have it?

How long before people complain about Will not doing music?

Well the question isn't whether you'd still support JJFP... it was whether you'd support Will Smith... that entails keeping up with what he's doing, whether it be movies or production... charity work or what have you. This has absolutely nothing... I can't stress this enough... This has absolutely nothing to do with money. It's about staying interested in his career. Are people going to tune into Oprah when will is on and isn't talking about music. Are you going to take the time to listen to interviews when you know it will have nothing to do with music. Basically, are you going to remain a fan of Will Smith as an entertainer in whatever capacity he remains and entertainer. Most of the people who supported Will for films but not for his music either aren't genuine hip hop fans, have been brainwashed by the industry and don't know what good hip hop is, don't like hip hop whatsoever, or aren't really aware that Will does music and was a rapper before he became an actor. However, everyone who knows about his music will eventually know about his movies. It's just a matter of whether you like his movies or not...

From some of these replys, it seems that when Will stops rapping, he'll lose a good number of his fans' support.

Haha, that sounds like a great Valentine's Day movie.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

I still haven't read a single bad review for this movie yet and there seems to me a lot of positive buzz. A lot of people are saying good things.

Not so fast there miss. Lol, just because people said it wasn't bad doesn't mean that they thought it was good.