Moviegoers know Will Smith as a man of action. They see him save the world from aliens, robots, monsters and, to a lesser degree, big metal spiders. Journalists, however, know Will Smith as a man of words.
An avid reader of spiritual teachings, Smith frequently relates his films to broader philosophical concepts in interviews. He considered his character Chris Gardner's journey in The Pursuit of Happyness, from homeless man to Dean Witter broker, to be what Barack Obama called The Audacity of Hope. He also quoted from the film What the Bleep Do We Know?, which puts a New Age spin on quantum physics, to the confusion of many entertainment reporters who just wanted to know how he keeps his abs ripped.
Seven Pounds is more fuel for Smith's spiritual fire. He plays Ben Thomas, a man suicidal after a tragic automobile accident which he caused. He has a plan to atone for his sins by helping seven worthy strangers, but at a cost to himself which only becomes clear by the film's end.
Despite his megastar status, Smith chooses to keep things personal, and remains personable, when dealing with the press one of the many reasons he's so popular with members of the entertainment media. Though he clearly meets hundreds of reporters on each of his worldwide press tours, he shakes hands and says, "Good to see you again," and the shakee really believes Smith remembers him. And the Oscar goes to...
Question: What does it take for you to get to that dark place that Ben is at in this movie?
Will Smith: It was exhausting trying to pull myself down into the mental space of Ben Thomas. The way I would do it is I would find people and find stories and continually have people tell me stories and concepts. It was based on the idea of trauma, and that was the part that I couldn't understand and I couldn't internally relate to. I didn't want to relate to being broken by trauma. I always play characters like Muhammad Ali and even Captain Steven Hiller in Independence Day, people who have these fantastic reactions to trauma and they stand up and beat on their chest. But that is less than authentic for most of us and truly not authentic for me. So to really be able to dive into what does it mean to be broken by an experience, I developed it just through research and talking and understanding the truth of what it means to lose everything.
Q: How hard was it to shake out of that at the end of each day?
WS: It is not a day to day thing, it is months. Once I find the character it takes a month to fall into it where it becomes instinctual, because you don't want to be thinking. Your instinctual reaction should be the character's reaction and then it takes weeks to come out of it.
What happened is one day we were sitting at the dinner table; [my son] Jaden is my man. He keeps me aware of everything that is going on around the house. Anything I need to know, he'll pull me up and let me know. Family dinner is a big thing at our house so it was really quiet one day, so I lean over to Jaden and said, "Hey man, why is it so quiet?" And he said, "Because you look crazy." I hadn't realized that I was bringing that crazy look in Ben Thomas' eyes, I was bringing that into the house and had no idea. So for probably a good solid three weeks after the movie I had to kind of sequester myself a little bit and work my way back out of that dark space.
Q: That's what Jaden said. What did your wife Jada say?
WS: She was saying, "You know, you should probably sleep in the other room."
Q: Did playing Ben in this film make you think about your own death?
WS: Oh yeah, my own mortality, that was a big topic. It's not really frightening. I wouldn't say it's frightening for me, I think that it is something that my mind avoids, and that's what was tough for me making the movie, just having to think about it every day. I got really aware of how small a moment it takes to change your life forever.
Q: Do you think Ben can ever be forgiven no matter how many good deeds he does?
WS: That is one of the interesting debates we had on the set about this film. The idea of seven pounds, he is looking to unring a bell and you really can't. You can ring a new bell and the sound of that new bell can have a healing effect on your ears, but you can't unring a bell. In his mind he feels like God made a mistake, so he is turning his engineering mind on fixing something that is totally unfixable by our standards. It has just become the winter of his life and that is a natural thing. He is blocking the new birth of the spring by trying to go backwards and trying to turn it back and trying to fix it rather than being open and understanding. Yes, there has been a death, a literal and a figurative death and that happens to all of us, but now you've got to keep your eyes open for the rebirth that is inevitably going to come, because that is the way nature does it and has done it since the beginning of time.
Q: What was the hardest time you've had to overcome to reach the spring?
WS: Probably my divorce. I went through a pretty painful divorce. I had a two-year-old, and it was like, you can't get divorced with a two-year-old. It was such a failure and I don't like losing, you know? It was like when I say I'm going to do something, I always have a thing I say to my friends: it's like, if I make you a promise, and the promise is incomplete, there's one of two things. Either it's about to be done, or I'm dead. So those are the only two options, if I told you I was going to do something. So for me, it was such a death on so many levels, to go through a divorce like that.
Q: And what got you through that?
WS: You know, time always will. If you just stay open, understand it's the winter, understand that the spring is coming, don't destroy your crops. Don't destroy your crops in the winter, because nothing will grow. Just relax, and when the spring comes, be prepared to harvest.
Q: What keeps you spiritual and not taking things for granted when you have so much success?
WS: I have been successful over the past few years, but you can't break poor people mentality. I don't take any of this for granted. It can have the negative side also because you can never truly be relaxed. When is enough? You are kind of all right, things are going well, but there is that feeling. It's funny because I look at all of that stuff from the seed inside of me. So things have turned out really well but there's thousands of people that work diligently to make sure those things turn out really well.
Things work in spite of me sometimes. I think that when I make a film, I'm terrified that people will come to work and work on something that they're not proud of. It's like we all have those things; you've been a part of something, you've been on a team and you're not proud of [the result], and that keeps me up at night. For the cinematographer, for the craft service people, for the other actors, like it's a responsibility in me to Rosario [Dawson].
When she took the role she had these ideas and these concepts, and she saw a vision, so for me, for her to come and be a part of this team and for me to not deliver that vision is painful to me. When I sit down right now in this interview it is important to me that each one of you gets exactly what you need, because one day I'm going to be here and need some help real bad. So I'm trying to put something in my karma bank with you all right now.
Q: What is the ultimate goal for you in your career? Or have you achieved that already?
WS: It's funny because Seven Pounds sort of revealed this to me. I'm now looking at my life more than my career. My career is an element of my life. For me, I want to live in service to humankind. I want people's lives to be better, because I was here. So my work and my personal choices, and all of that, have to be in sync with that philosophy and that idea, so I'll choose films [that way].
I'm journeying right now. I don't know what my thing is going to be. I don't know where I want to plant my flag philanthropically, but there's an idea of I want every aspect of my life to be something that somebody can find some germ, some little piece, something, to help elevate their life and dreams, and ideas.
Q: Have you changed someone's life yourself?
WS: Have I changed someone's life? It's funny, I can't say definitely that I did, but I know that Jada and I have changed one another's lives more than any other people we've ever come in contact with.
Q: How is the I Am Legend prequel developing? What time frame would that be set in?
WS: We have a very, very cool prequel idea. In essence, it's not the title but the idea of it is the last stand of Manhattan.
Q: So it won't be you alone again?
WS: No, it would be an ensemble.
Q: What about a Hancock sequel?
WS: We've been talking about a sequel also for Hancock. The ideas aren't as developed for Hancock yet.
Q: Might we see more heroes?
WS: [Stutters] Potentially. Potentially, yes.
Q: What is it about returning to characters that appeals to you?
WS: Let me tell you, I would do up to Bad Boys 6 if I could. I have so much fun working with Martin Lawrence. I love Miami. It's like that little boy fantasy is fast cars and girls and I got the gun and the bad guy's always lose. It's like I would make Bad Boys forever.
Q: In these tough economic times, what sort of gifts are you giving for Christmas?
WS: It's funny, we decided and our kids decided that we're only giving this Christmas. My son, his birthday was November 11th and he did something that had me all teary at his birthday party. He had asked all of his friends to bring gifts for other kids. He said he didn't want any gifts for his birthday. He said he has enough stuff so he had all of his friends bring gifts to the party and they took the gifts to the cancer ward at Children's Hospital. And I was like [sniffling], "Well, go ahead. You're on punishment." "For what?" "'Cause you can't be looking at me like this." That's Trey.
Seven Pounds opens in theaters nationwide on Friday, December 19. Hit the official site for more info.
An avid reader of spiritual teachings, Smith frequently relates his films to broader philosophical concepts in interviews. He considered his character Chris Gardner's journey in The Pursuit of Happyness, from homeless man to Dean Witter broker, to be what Barack Obama called The Audacity of Hope. He also quoted from the film What the Bleep Do We Know?, which puts a New Age spin on quantum physics, to the confusion of many entertainment reporters who just wanted to know how he keeps his abs ripped.
Seven Pounds is more fuel for Smith's spiritual fire. He plays Ben Thomas, a man suicidal after a tragic automobile accident which he caused. He has a plan to atone for his sins by helping seven worthy strangers, but at a cost to himself which only becomes clear by the film's end.
Despite his megastar status, Smith chooses to keep things personal, and remains personable, when dealing with the press one of the many reasons he's so popular with members of the entertainment media. Though he clearly meets hundreds of reporters on each of his worldwide press tours, he shakes hands and says, "Good to see you again," and the shakee really believes Smith remembers him. And the Oscar goes to...
Question: What does it take for you to get to that dark place that Ben is at in this movie?
Will Smith: It was exhausting trying to pull myself down into the mental space of Ben Thomas. The way I would do it is I would find people and find stories and continually have people tell me stories and concepts. It was based on the idea of trauma, and that was the part that I couldn't understand and I couldn't internally relate to. I didn't want to relate to being broken by trauma. I always play characters like Muhammad Ali and even Captain Steven Hiller in Independence Day, people who have these fantastic reactions to trauma and they stand up and beat on their chest. But that is less than authentic for most of us and truly not authentic for me. So to really be able to dive into what does it mean to be broken by an experience, I developed it just through research and talking and understanding the truth of what it means to lose everything.
Q: How hard was it to shake out of that at the end of each day?
WS: It is not a day to day thing, it is months. Once I find the character it takes a month to fall into it where it becomes instinctual, because you don't want to be thinking. Your instinctual reaction should be the character's reaction and then it takes weeks to come out of it.
What happened is one day we were sitting at the dinner table; [my son] Jaden is my man. He keeps me aware of everything that is going on around the house. Anything I need to know, he'll pull me up and let me know. Family dinner is a big thing at our house so it was really quiet one day, so I lean over to Jaden and said, "Hey man, why is it so quiet?" And he said, "Because you look crazy." I hadn't realized that I was bringing that crazy look in Ben Thomas' eyes, I was bringing that into the house and had no idea. So for probably a good solid three weeks after the movie I had to kind of sequester myself a little bit and work my way back out of that dark space.
Q: That's what Jaden said. What did your wife Jada say?
WS: She was saying, "You know, you should probably sleep in the other room."
Q: Did playing Ben in this film make you think about your own death?
WS: Oh yeah, my own mortality, that was a big topic. It's not really frightening. I wouldn't say it's frightening for me, I think that it is something that my mind avoids, and that's what was tough for me making the movie, just having to think about it every day. I got really aware of how small a moment it takes to change your life forever.
Q: Do you think Ben can ever be forgiven no matter how many good deeds he does?
WS: That is one of the interesting debates we had on the set about this film. The idea of seven pounds, he is looking to unring a bell and you really can't. You can ring a new bell and the sound of that new bell can have a healing effect on your ears, but you can't unring a bell. In his mind he feels like God made a mistake, so he is turning his engineering mind on fixing something that is totally unfixable by our standards. It has just become the winter of his life and that is a natural thing. He is blocking the new birth of the spring by trying to go backwards and trying to turn it back and trying to fix it rather than being open and understanding. Yes, there has been a death, a literal and a figurative death and that happens to all of us, but now you've got to keep your eyes open for the rebirth that is inevitably going to come, because that is the way nature does it and has done it since the beginning of time.
Q: What was the hardest time you've had to overcome to reach the spring?
WS: Probably my divorce. I went through a pretty painful divorce. I had a two-year-old, and it was like, you can't get divorced with a two-year-old. It was such a failure and I don't like losing, you know? It was like when I say I'm going to do something, I always have a thing I say to my friends: it's like, if I make you a promise, and the promise is incomplete, there's one of two things. Either it's about to be done, or I'm dead. So those are the only two options, if I told you I was going to do something. So for me, it was such a death on so many levels, to go through a divorce like that.
Q: And what got you through that?
WS: You know, time always will. If you just stay open, understand it's the winter, understand that the spring is coming, don't destroy your crops. Don't destroy your crops in the winter, because nothing will grow. Just relax, and when the spring comes, be prepared to harvest.
Q: What keeps you spiritual and not taking things for granted when you have so much success?
WS: I have been successful over the past few years, but you can't break poor people mentality. I don't take any of this for granted. It can have the negative side also because you can never truly be relaxed. When is enough? You are kind of all right, things are going well, but there is that feeling. It's funny because I look at all of that stuff from the seed inside of me. So things have turned out really well but there's thousands of people that work diligently to make sure those things turn out really well.
Things work in spite of me sometimes. I think that when I make a film, I'm terrified that people will come to work and work on something that they're not proud of. It's like we all have those things; you've been a part of something, you've been on a team and you're not proud of [the result], and that keeps me up at night. For the cinematographer, for the craft service people, for the other actors, like it's a responsibility in me to Rosario [Dawson].
When she took the role she had these ideas and these concepts, and she saw a vision, so for me, for her to come and be a part of this team and for me to not deliver that vision is painful to me. When I sit down right now in this interview it is important to me that each one of you gets exactly what you need, because one day I'm going to be here and need some help real bad. So I'm trying to put something in my karma bank with you all right now.
Q: What is the ultimate goal for you in your career? Or have you achieved that already?
WS: It's funny because Seven Pounds sort of revealed this to me. I'm now looking at my life more than my career. My career is an element of my life. For me, I want to live in service to humankind. I want people's lives to be better, because I was here. So my work and my personal choices, and all of that, have to be in sync with that philosophy and that idea, so I'll choose films [that way].
I'm journeying right now. I don't know what my thing is going to be. I don't know where I want to plant my flag philanthropically, but there's an idea of I want every aspect of my life to be something that somebody can find some germ, some little piece, something, to help elevate their life and dreams, and ideas.
Q: Have you changed someone's life yourself?
WS: Have I changed someone's life? It's funny, I can't say definitely that I did, but I know that Jada and I have changed one another's lives more than any other people we've ever come in contact with.
Q: How is the I Am Legend prequel developing? What time frame would that be set in?
WS: We have a very, very cool prequel idea. In essence, it's not the title but the idea of it is the last stand of Manhattan.
Q: So it won't be you alone again?
WS: No, it would be an ensemble.
Q: What about a Hancock sequel?
WS: We've been talking about a sequel also for Hancock. The ideas aren't as developed for Hancock yet.
Q: Might we see more heroes?
WS: [Stutters] Potentially. Potentially, yes.
Q: What is it about returning to characters that appeals to you?
WS: Let me tell you, I would do up to Bad Boys 6 if I could. I have so much fun working with Martin Lawrence. I love Miami. It's like that little boy fantasy is fast cars and girls and I got the gun and the bad guy's always lose. It's like I would make Bad Boys forever.
Q: In these tough economic times, what sort of gifts are you giving for Christmas?
WS: It's funny, we decided and our kids decided that we're only giving this Christmas. My son, his birthday was November 11th and he did something that had me all teary at his birthday party. He had asked all of his friends to bring gifts for other kids. He said he didn't want any gifts for his birthday. He said he has enough stuff so he had all of his friends bring gifts to the party and they took the gifts to the cancer ward at Children's Hospital. And I was like [sniffling], "Well, go ahead. You're on punishment." "For what?" "'Cause you can't be looking at me like this." That's Trey.
Seven Pounds opens in theaters nationwide on Friday, December 19. Hit the official site for more info.
VIEW 10 of 10 COMMENTS
fijjy:
Great interview, can't wait for all the sequels/prequels.....
tallboy66:
About half way through I wanted to leave, but it was a decent movie.