Will power

[Ale]

10:02am Saturday 22nd December 2007

Although he's been named the most powerful actor on the planet, Will Smith doesn't want to be President of the United States. Instead, he tells Steve Pratt, he just wants to make the world a better place

HOLLYWOOD actor Will Smith was only joking when he said he wanted to be President of the United States, having already saved the world five times on the big screen. But I imagine he stands a better chance than most of getting his feet under the table in the White House Oval Office.

OK, so he only made number five on the list of Hollywood's smartest people in Entertainment Weekly. But another US magazine, Newsweek, named him the most powerful actor on the planet.

As if to prove he deserved the title, his latest movie, I Am Legend, enjoyed the biggest December opening ever, grossing $77m on its first weekend.

Will power has never been greater. He's one of the few actors, perhaps the only one now, whose name above the title guarantees a big opening weekend in a business where first appearances make or break a movie.

He's shown himself capable of performing well in every genre, whether it's sci-fi (I, Robot and Independence Day), action comedy (Men In Black), romantic comedy (Hitch) or drama (The Pursuit Of Happyness). He was Oscar-nominated for his portrayal of the boxer in the bio-pic, Ali.

Smith has been labelled the Four Billion Dollar Man, a reflection of how much his movies have made worldwide since the chart-topping rap artist and star of TV's The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air made his movie debut.

He spends the first 70 minutes of I Am Legend on his own, playing the last man alive after a manmade plague wipes out civilisation. He has only a dog and flesh-eating zombies for company in a deserted New York City. This is ironic considering the gregarious Smith thrives on an audience. He loves playing to the crowd, although his show-off behaviour is more endearing than annoying.

He hasn't changed in the years I've been observing him at press junkets. Stopping off in London for this week's premiere, part of a round-the-world trip to launch the film, he's as friendly and talkative as ever.

So was there any instance in his own life where he felt alone? "Really the only time I've truly felt alone was when I went through my divorce, because I felt like nobody understood," he says.

"Other than that, I've always had a lot of confidence that other people get it, that other people know. I've never felt like I was experiencing something that nobody could relate to. I grew up in a very spiritual household, my grandmother was always making it very clear that we're not alone, so I've never had that issue."

He's better at being alone away from home than at home. "I actually love this time, to be on tour and then go back to my hotel room by myself. I love 14- hour flights. No one is talking to me, it's just to get into that space," he says.

IT'S a bigger problem for me at home and that was something I tried to focus on with Robert Neville in the film, actually having to be in the same house where his wife and daughter had lived and to continue with his life.

"That's where we came up with the idea that he keeps the light on in his daughter's bedroom, he keeps the room totally made, just things like that, the pain of a situation like that."

Both children by his second wife, actress Jada Pinkett Smith, have appeared with him on screen.

Their nine-year-old son Jaden co-starred as his son in the drama The Pursuit Of Happyness and now Willow, seven, plays his daughter in I Am Legend.

"We refuse to give our kids parts, we don't prompt them. If they don't push, they don't get the opportunity,"

he says.

"It's something they both want to do and are really passionate about. Willow has another film, American Girl, coming out. We have films going head-to-head with one another in July. I'm like baby, daddy loves you, but I gotta stop you'.

"I want them to do what they love. It's hard to do a job that you don't find some pleasure in. You have to do aspects of it you don't like but if you're not loving it, it's difficult to excel. So long as they enjoy it more than anything, we try to keep it fun for them."

He favours the belief that successful relationships are based on exchange and that, if you're part of a group, you have to contribute.

The Smith children are helping the family through their acting work. "There's no feeling like looking into a child's eyes who knows they're a valuable member of the family," he says.

"Yes, it's hard and there's some tough decisions to be made and they're going to be away from their friends sometime and all that. But it's the selfesteem that gets created when they know they've added something to their family."

This is serious stuff from the usually smiling, quipping Smith. He's equally intense when explaining why he doesn't want to the president. He prefers "the world of possibilities", he says.

"I feel when you create something and put something artistic into the world, it's painful when people don't like it, but it's more of a seed that can grow than what you do in politics. By the time your seeds grow in politics, you've been impeached."

He doesn't treat his most powerful man in movies title lightly. He knocked Tom Cruise off the top spot and beat off competition from the likes of Johnny Depp to take the title.

Something different happened in his career with the combination of The Pursuit Of Happyness and now I Am Legend, he feels. "I don't know what it is and I'm really stunned. We're going to take this time now to regroup and figure out how we use this around the world.

"My grandmother used to say if you're going to be here, baby, you might as well make the world better.

The idea is to figure out what to do and how to do it."

He talks of using music and movies in planting "the seeds of the future" in world hot spots. More immediately, he's using an idea from France of taking movies to children in hospital. He plans to start that in his home city of Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

"Things like that inspire me. I always look at how I can make it as big as possible, the maximum amount of impact I can create in making people's lives brighter with what has been created at the box office," he says.

Surely he can't be cheerful all the time, something must irritate him. Seemingly not. "If I understand, I don't get annoyed," says Smith.

"People driving by in their cars giving the finger, that type of stuff infuriates my wife. But for me, I'm connected to the idea that no one does that unless they feel infringed upon. They think you did something to them, that you're driving too slow and stopping them getting to their daughter's birthday party.

"I feel you have to find the insult, people see insults in strange places. For me, I believe human beings are basically good."

* I Am Legend (15) opens in cinemas on Boxing Day.

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/features/....will_power.php

[Schnazz]

HOLLYWOOD actor Will Smith was only joking when he said he wanted to be President of the United States, having already saved the world five times on the big screen.

I realize it's completely foolish on my part, but I'm disappointed to read this. :)

[Sandy]

Jada said that if Will wanted to be the president of the USa he had to divorce her first lol