Focus
In this drama directed by John Requa, Smith plays Nicky a con artist who becomes romantically involved with his partner while teaching her the tricks of the trade. He ends the relationship when she becomes uncomfortably close. Co-starring: Robbie Margot, Rodrigo Santoro, Adrian Martinez and B.D Wong.
You can’t create chemistry, you either have it or your don’t. It was pretty instantaneous. The second she walked in I was like, “Uh huh…” It was really palpable. I’ve never used that word in public before – that felt good! It was the correct usage, right? Ok, it was palpable!
Focus
In this romantic comedy drama, Smith plays Nicky Spurgeon, a con man. He falls in love Jess (MArgotRobbie) and begins to teach her the tricks of the trade but he breaks the relationship off when it gets too close. Three years later she shows Nicky how cons are done. Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa. Co-starring Rodrigo Santoro. Robbie:
We started improvising a little bit, Will said something and I called him a d**k,” she recalls. “Apparently when he walked out he said: ‘I like her. I think she’s the right one.’ They were like, ‘you like her because she called you a d**k’. It ended up becoming a running joke in the film.”
After Earth
Smith and his son Jayden star in After Earth, a sci-fi action film about a father and son crash landing on an abandoned, post-human Earth. A major theme is Will Smith’s character’s ability to completely mask his fear from the creatures they were fighting before they crashed on Earth.
That’s what I wanted the metaphor of this movie to be. A father having to watch as his son makes mistakes in the world, and in an extreme place of life or death. It is the excruciating parental pain of having to let your kids go, and you just have to hope that the lessons you’ve instilled will kick in at the right time.
Men in Black 3
Smith returns in Men in Black 3. Agent J (Smith) goes back in time to 1969 to prevent Agent K, played by Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin, from being killed by a Boglodite named Boris the Animal. When speaking of his idea to cast someone else as a young K:
You know, what was exciting to me, also, about doing this is how risky and dangerous and almost foolish it was to try to make Men In Black and introduce a new actor to play the, you know…
Seven Pounds
Smith appears alongside Rosario Dawson, Michael Ealy, Barry Pepper, Octavia Spencer and Woody Harrelson in Seven Pounds. The film is about a man (Smith) who wants to atone for the deaths of seven people in a car crash, including his fiancee, as a result of texting and driving.
Usually with the films that I make there are ideas that I connect to, but lately I’ve been dealing with the bittersweet in life because it feels more natural. You don’t ever get it really the way you want in life. That really fascinates me. As an actor, there are certain parts of a character that you create, and you train yourself to have those reactions and then it becomes hard to stop them when the role is over. You have to retrain yourself. My character in this film is like hot grits. You know you can’t shake them off and when you do, it hurts.
Hancock
Columbia Pictures presents Hancock, starring Will Smith as a drunken, amnesiac superhero. It centers around him trying to change his bad image. In the process, he meets another person with superhero powers, who is paired with him, and they are the last of their kind.
There’s a natural narcotic my brain must pump, because negativity doesn’t last. It’s strange to play a guy like Hancock, who can’t find something to feel good about. That’s the opposite of who I am
![Hancock - Official® Trailer 1 [HD]](https://newslines.org/wp-content/plugins/wp-youtube-lyte/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FSkX1VuXLRSc%2F0.jpg)
The Pursuit of Happyness
In the biopic drama directed by Gabriele Muccino, Smith plays Chris Gardner, a poverty stricken salesman who has custody of his son. Living on the streets and eating from soup kitchens, he gets the opportunity to be an intern as a stockbroker, eventually gaining the position with the company and becoming a millionaire. Costars Thandie Newton and Jaden Smith. Smith on Gardner:
We looked in one anothers eyes. I said, ‘I’m going to learn your story and I’m going to tell your story.’