Will Smith: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing | Full Biography (Men in Black, I Am Legend, Hitch)

friends you asked for it and we listened to you and launched a huge gaming channel with exclusive documentaries especially for those who appreciate high quality gaming content the history of games series Studios genres and features of the gaming industry all these are on our new channel we'll appreciate your support in the form of a subscription the link is in the description and pin comment and now let's start the video he is sure that he has discovered the secret formula for Success he is known as a poor relative from Bel Air The Last Hero in a deserted New York a homeless man who conquered the business World in a very generous Samaritan who gave a piece of himself to seven chosen people and what's more a classic black suit fits him great today on the biographer Channel we will tell you all about the Hollywood Megastar the incomparable Will Smith what crime did Young will end up in prison for how did his rap pseudonym Fresh Prince come about for the sake of which role did he exhaust himself with training for a whole year and Whose advice made him the highest grossing actor in Hollywood today we will answer all these questions and even more so get comfortable and we are starting foreign what you have come to understand is Will Smith the alien annihilating MC the bigger than life movie star is largely a construction a carefully crafted and honed character designed to protect myself to hide myself from the world the life and career of our today's star was most influenced by his family it was the family that made him the Will Smith we all know his father Willard Carroll Smith after whom are today's star was named was born and raised in the rough and dirty streets of North Philadelphia in the 1940s he grew up unsupervised and as a teenager Willard developed a brashness and aggression that would haunt him for the rest of his life despite his hard work wild energy and sharp mind his drive to self-destruction always took its toll after an unfinished education and unfinished a service in the Army Willard returned to Philadelphia found a job at a metallurgical plant but because of his race he had to leave it and open his own business my father tormented me and he was also one of the greatest men I've ever known my father was violent but he was also at every game play and recital he was an alcoholic but he was sober at every premiere of every one of my movies he listened to every record he visited every Studio Smith's Mother Caroline Elaine bright was born and raised in Homewood a black neighborhood on Pittsburgh East Side she was an honors student at Westinghouse Academy and one of the first black women at Carnegie Mellon University my mother graduated from Carnegie Mellon and she was dead serious about education and in her mind if you didn't have an education you you were dead you know yeah you did it wrong you can't survive in this world without an education she was interested in business and always had her own money Caroline married for the first time in her 20s gave birth to a daughter Pam and divorced less than three years later wanting more from life she packed her things and went to live with her mother in Philadelphia Will's parents met at a dance in the summer of 1964. two years later they got married at Niagara Falls the family settled in the mother-in-law's house and began to develop the family business repairing refrigerators on September 25th 1968 they had their first joint child son will my mom says that from the moment I showed up I was a talker always smiling yapping and babbling away content to just be making noise since parents work took a lot of time grandmother Gigi was Raising her son she had a huge porch Smith recalls which served as my front row seat to the drama of North 54th Street and a stage on which I could join in the theatrics she dropped me up on that porch and watched me jibber jabber with anybody and everybody who walked by even at that age I loved having an audience when will turned two his parents bought their own house just a few kilometers from Gigi's and a year later twins Harry and Ellen were born counting Caroline's eldest daughter Pam there were six people living Under One Roof at the same time the father's business flourished and the family lived quite well my middle class upbringing contributed to the constant criticism I took early in my rap career Smith says I was not a gangster and I wasn't selling drugs I grew up on a nice Street and a two-parent household I went to a Catholic school with mostly white kids until I was 14. my mom was college educated and for all of his adults my father put food on the table and would die before he abandoned his kids however Willard senior while drunk often raised his hand to his wife and children Will's younger brother Harry always stood up for his mother sister Ellen hid and cried and will decided that he would please everyone I was the Entertainer in the family I wanted to keep everything light and fun and joyful I should have been able to keep my father satisfied I should have been able to protect my mother I should have been able to make the family stable and happy constant fear throughout his childhood developed Will's keenest intuition the ability to feel any emotion around him he learned to feel anger anticipate joy and understand sadness on a much deeper level than most other children and the boy was very dreamy and often lost in his imagination later these qualities made him a talented actor and Megastar in Hollywood Will's parents supported his passion for music as they made all their children learn to play the piano since their mother played it herself Harry played the saxophone and will took drum lessons in high school however the boy really liked Only the Piano his most emotional performance on the piano took place at the age of 11 in his grandmother's church when he played Feelings by Morris Albert Gigi was delighted to listen to her grandson's performance and the look on her face I still struggled to describe it Smith admitted the words Pride or approval are pale and inadequate I could only say that I have been chasing that look in the eyes of every woman I've ever loved ever since I've never felt more certain of some woman's adoration all my career my performances my albums everything has been a Relentless unbroken quest to relive the delicious Purity I felt when I played feelings at Resurrection hall for my Gigi after that we'll start performing all the time he made up skits for his parents acted out moments from movies with friends sang songs in church public speaking became his little Oasis Of Happiness although Smith lived in an area where the majority of the population was black he attended Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic school with white children however he never felt comfortable anywhere a Catholic School no matter how well spoken or intelligent I was still the black kid in Winfield no matter how much I was on the latest music or fashion I was never quite black enough at school as well as at home his shield was a sense of humor in public speaking and the classroom will was a typical clown the hidden disrespect numerous suspensions from classes in the 7th and 8th grades not being invited to parties and school events the boy explained being a Baptist in the Catholic church and not black in a white world besides his parents knew that it was the best school in the districts in terms of academic performance so they insisted their son be patient but after Smith a member of the School's football team was denied a front row seat at the awards ceremony and was refused to accept the player of the year award on stage because of his skin color the parents patients finally ran out will was moved to Overbrook High School a center for black youth in West Philadelphia which was nicknamed The Castle on the hill it is in this school that a new Hip-Hop star the incomparable Fresh Prince was born [Applause] will was introduced to hip-hop Culture by his cousin Paul who moved in with the Smiths in 1983 because of his problems with the law the boys became friends back then hip hop wasn't what it is now the star recalls there had been a couple of hits but for the most part it was still underground there were no albums or singles no radio play no videos Paul's Bad Company in New York was helping him get the coolest hip-hop mixtapes Will's Idol at that time was Grandmaster Cass who had the greatest influence on his further musical career he was the prototype for the fresh prince he was one of hip-hop's first storytellers Kaz was witty he was clever his verses took you on a journey first hit single girls ain't nothing but trouble was inspired by grandmaster's freestyle mixtape Yvette I'm not exactly sure when I became a rapper will said back then hip hop wasn't something we did it was what we were hip-hop was not just our music it was dance it was fashion street art politics social justice it was everything it was life it was us it was at school where will began freestyling to the beatbox of his friend Clarence Holmes nicknamed ready Rock C at night he was riding and memorizing his own lyrics and during the day he joined rap battles proving to everyone that he was the best some guys were more rhythmic and more poetic but he was the funniest no one could entertain the crowd better than him and humor according to the star always won will was loved by everyone both classmates and teachers for his way of making everyone laugh his favorite teacher Miss Brown jokingly nicknamed Smith Prince Charming in the 80s the word fresh was popular among hip-hoppers meaning cool so will decided to combine it with his nickname and choose Fresh Prince as his stage name he had no idea that soon this name would be all over the world during that time Smith met his first love at school a girl named Melanie Parker she had gorgeous mahogany eyes and a springtime smile that I would come to understand was painted on top of hidden layers of sadness Melanie was a Broken Angel and from the moment I saw her I wanted nothing more than to take care of her it was for Melanie's sake that will who dreamed of his own family since childhood decided to become the most famous rapper and the most successful showman in order to ensure their future together in the 11th grade Smith joined the band The hypnotic MCS hoping to become famous however the boys treated hip-hop more as a hobby and 16 year old will was not perceived as an equal at all therefore after six months Fresh Prince said goodbye to them he noted my story was very different from the ones being told by the young black men who were launching the global phenomenon that would later become hip hop in their minds I was somehow an illegitimate artist it would call me soft whack corny a bubble gum wrapper criticisms that violently infuriated me looking back I realize I may have been projecting a little at one of his girlfriend's parties he met The Talented DJ Jeffrey Allen towns nicknamed DJ Jazzy Jeff the guy had a lot in common so they became friends fast and decided to perform together this is how the band DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince was born young people were real Workaholics so they worked on music every day will would come over to his friend's house after school and they would hang out in Jeff's basement or he had some kind of a studio we had done every show we could block parties school dances proms basement parties birthdays fundraisers and church parking lots you name it we did it we had established a rep as fun creative captivating party rockers they also participated in the 1986 new music seminar an annual DJ in MC competition held in New York City there DJ Jazzy Jeff received the title of King of the DJ world and Will Smith realized for the first time that he did not want to go to college after the victory at the festival the boys were invited to perform in clubs of Philadelphia Delaware and Atlantic City they also got their own manager James Lasseter an old friend of Jeff's nicknamed JL who dealt with the band's legal and organizational issues once their music Was Heard by local businessman Dana Goodman he was the younger brother of Lawrence Goodman the founder of pop art records one of the first hip-hop labels that gained popularity in New York Dana was delighted with the boy's Charisma and decided to sign a record deal with them they recorded two singles together just one of those days and girls ain't nothing but trouble after some time the last composition became a hit on the radio in Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff were finally recognized have you ever listened to their songs let us know in the comments we'd love to hear your thoughts on Will's early work this became the last argument for Will and the decision not to go to college however not everyone in the family was so supportive of it when I told her I wasn't going to college because I wanted to rap you know it wasn't though you're going to be Will Smith yeah yes yeah she she had uh no idea and you know so my father let me have a year so I had a year that I could go try to do rap music and then after that I was going to have to go to college the Young Artists recorded the first full-length album called rock the house us and went on a U.S tour where they performed as a warm-up for Public Enemy and two Live Crew two of the most influential hip-hop bands in the country they were noticed by Russell Simmons a well-known producer at the time and the Band came under his leadership however Dana Goodman still wanted full control over the band in their record sales then JL decided to do the following he persuaded Dana to sign a deal with the international company Jive Records that would later manage the careers of such pop stars as Britney Spears and sync and Backstreet Boys and they promised to bring the band to the world stage in essence Jive covered all expenses while Dana still remained the source of income he willingly signed such a contract received a big check and sold their International rights to Jive the company immediately re-released rock the house in March 1987 with a new cover and a new sound and it became a major Global hit they started importing the same new version of the album to the US Dana realized that he had chosen a one-time payment instead of regular ones and could not get anything from the imported records therefore he demanded more money and threatened to completely refuse to cooperate with jive a legal battle ensued Smith said and as soon as the lawyers started digging into our paperwork they figured out that I had been 17 when I signed the contract with Dana Under Pennsylvania law anyone under the age of 18 cannot legally sign a contract without a parent or Guardian present I had signed mine in the lobby of a studio before a recording session there are four in legal terms our contract with Dana never existed Dana Goodman suffered the loss of such a profitable band and even wanted to get even with Will arriving at his house with a loaded gun Will's dad approached Dana and said that he could shoot the whole family but they would not let him hurt his son because they were not at all afraid of him Daddio immediate turn his back on a man who could easily have shot him and strolled into the house I'm not sure if it was his military training or his upbringing on the streets of North Philly but he taught me a valuable lesson that day it's better to die than to walk around scared meanwhile things were going up in the band their debut album rocked the house and its major hit girls ain't nothing but trouble went gold selling more than 500 000 copies and eventually peaked at number 83 on the billboard 200. the boys performed at almost 200 concerts and in the fall of 1987 they flew for the first time to London for six weeks to record their second album The Musicians recorded a lot of songs and the producers liked them so much that they offered something that no one in the rap world had done before DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince released the world's first double hip hop album the guys had no idea what this album would mean for the industry they didn't know if the fans wanted it if the people at MTV would like it if it would be played on the radio or if it would be condemned by the hip-hop Titans they were only concerned with the creative process the second album called he's the DJ I'm the rapper was released on March 29 1988. the song's brand new funk and parents just don't understand where the main hits thanks to which the album climbed to the fourth place on the billboard 200 and became three-time was platinum as they sold more than 3 million copies closed captioning not available [Music] in which Jeff absolutely massacred the Wheels of Steel and the other half was the rapper side where I was allowed to let the hyper-creative poetic playfulness of my 19 year old mind run wild at the 31st Annual Grammy Awards in their first ever rap award DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince won best rap performance for parents just don't understand making them the first rappers in the world who received this award the guys boycotted the ceremony itself because the Music Academy naras which presented the Grammys refused to broadcast the rap Awards presentation on television the band became Innovative in many ways they launched yo MTV wraps which broadcasted hip hop on daytime television will and Jeff were among the first to be broadcast live on daytime radio and Four Seasons which at that time did not allow rappers to stay in their hotels change their decision only after the president when Russell Simons accommodated the boys in his own room we'll now have the money and fame he had always dreamed of he bought his grandmother an apartment on the 16th floor overlooking the historic City Center and he and his beloved Melanie moved to Gigi's old house the band launched a Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince hotline [phone] Jeff was the first toll-free 900 number in history premium phone numbers have become a revolutionary new way to connect with fans and in fact the Forerunner of modern social networks fans called it to hear the Idol's short daily messages of where they were and what they were doing at the peak of their popularity they received about 5 000 calls a day however constant touring and lack of time for personal life caused a crack in will and Melanie's relationship the last straw was the Betrayal of his beloved one the couple broke up Smith took the breakup very hard he tried to drown his pain in the immeasurable money spending as he had a lot of it and in promiscuous sexual relations I had sex with so many women and it was so constitutionally disagreeable to the core of my being that I developed a psychosomatic reaction to having an organism it would literally make me gag and sometimes even vomit out of grief will bought his first house a mansion overlooking Marion Park in a rich area beyond the City Line Bridge as well as the whole car park after six months of separation from Melanie he decided to get her back the couple moved in again and now lived in a new house but they never managed to restore a normal relationship during the same period will became involved with jbm a junior Black Mafia that was involved in the sale of addictive substances they often played pool with Smith for money at his house this band was supposed to record their next album in a studio in the Bahamas but instead the artists just spent two hundred thousand dollars on entertainment and girls and didn't make a single song the situation was saved by the band's manager who called Willard senior he arrived at the studio saw the entire creative process and sent everyone Home the album and in this corner was released in October 1989 just on Halloween and the public greeted it with silence in a desperate attempt to save the situation at least somehow the band went on tour but it was all in vain and in this corner flop hard Smith recalled we were coming off 3 million records sold triple platinum sales in the first ever Grammy Award in rap expectations and Investments were very high and we crashed and burned at that time we'll begin to fly to Los Angeles where he met Tanya Moore who later played an important role in his life choice instead of recording new albums the guys spent money but did not earn it later it turned out that they did not even pay taxes Smith had to sell his entire car park house and finally end his relationship with Melanie during one of the interviews on the local radio station WDAS FM the former band manager Dana Goodman entered the studio with another man the latter began to shout during the recording that will should thank Dana for his popularity slowly approaching the rapper however the star's bodyguard and his friend Charlie blocked the stranger's path and seriously injured him as a result Smith and Charlie were thrown into prison you know getting into the fight at the radio station that you know Charlie punching a dude that ended me in jail so the money is gone the car is gone I'm laying on the floor in a jail cell and I'm like you've got to be kidding me I want a Grammy eight months ago right like what is happening the victim's lawyers filed a lawsuit specifically against Smith and not his bodyguard in the hope of making good money however when they found out that the prince was broke this claim was rejected will was released from prison but new troubles awaited him at home the FBI came after jbm the feds knew that the young rapper was in close contact with them so he was again threatened with imprisonment Smith had no choice but to flee Los Angeles there he and Tanya Moore rented an apartment and started living together it was she who inspired will to work on the next project that would change his life forever at one of the shows in Los Angeles Smith met Benny Medina who was a Headhunter for Warner Bros records Studio he invited the young rapper to the birthday party of the famous producer Quincy Jones the thing was these two had the idea to make a series about a poor relative who moved to live with a rich family in the luxurious Bel-Air area of Los Angeles they wanted Fresh Prince to star in it and that's why they gave him an opportunity to audition right in front of the guests at the party I don't remember much about the audition it's kind of a blurry collage of jokes laughs punch lines and ad-libs Quincy then Brandon Benny 20 magical minutes culminating in Innovation from the entire room at the same party the producers in Smith signed an agreement to shoot the pilot previously called The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air will was delighted at this opportunity to prove himself his new screen family became James Avery whose approval the young actor sought for it in six years Janet Hubert Whitton who fought tirelessly for a respectful image of the black community on the screen Alfonso Ribeiro who became his true friend and advised him to name his screen character Will Smith Tatiana Ali an 11 year old who spent her teenage years on the set and Karen Parsons who rejected relationship with Smith without spoiling the series will also persuaded Jazzy Jeff to act promising that they would write another album together later Jeff's character became one of the audience's favorites and he learned to love the acting process too his most memorable scene was when Uncle Phil throws him out of the house during the shooting of the pilot episode no one knew that this bit would catch on Smith said so we only had one shot of Jeff flying out of the house the interior of the Bel Air mansion and the exterior are two different locations and we only had a one-day shoot at the the exterior location so we had to use the same shot of Jeff being thrown out over and over therefore anytime you see Jeff enter with the brown and white Aztec pattern shirt you know that he'll be thrown out in that scene the sitcom premiered on September 10 1990 and was an instant success debuting with the highest ratings of the season five working days were given for the production of one episode on Monday the actors producers and screenwriters sat down to read the script on Tuesday and Wednesday there were rehearsals the actors on stage tried to breathe life into the woods Thursday was a technical run day with light sound and camera setup and on Friday the shooting took place in front of a live audience Friday nights on the set of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air were like being at the hottest club in the city everybody who was anybody made their way to our tapings the entire cast of the sitcom could sing and dance therefore in the breaks between scenes the audience was entertained with musical performances the highlight of which was the band DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince music education also helped and one of the famous scenes Smith played Beethoven's Fur Elise on the piano the set went silent the actor recalled as everyone realized this show was about to be special the whole point of the scene had been to never judge a book by its cover the producers were so inspired by this improvisational moment that they kept it and it became the defining thematic premise of the entire series Prince and Jeff returned to work on the fourth album which was called home base but now the music had to be done part-time at night compared to the failed third album for home base they wrote twice as many songs in half the time and on a quarter of the same budget and those songs were much better that included summertime the only song will wrote from start to finish without correcting or changing a single word it was his first number one song on the hot r b hip-hop chart and Number Four Song on the bill 100 the band recorded the music video at their home in Philadelphia with the participation of family members and Friends here it is a cool slightly transformed just a bit of a break from the norm home base went platinum in two months and won an American Music Award and a second Grammy the boys boycotted this ceremony as well I was positive we were going to lose so I didn't go Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince now had two Grammys and I had yet to make an appearance anywhere near the award show at the same time the Network's success was growing will as an a student in life prepared for each series with all seriousness he studied lines obsessively and was so afraid of making a mistake that he memorized the entire script not just his words but everyone else's too and therefore during filming he subconsciously moved his lips to the camera at the same time as other actors in episode 5 of the first season during the dialogue between the prince and ice tray it is clearly visible that will silently utters the friend's lines so you're also a disadvantaged inner city youth I hear with him tan of course colleagues on the set pointed out his mistake to the rapper and he tried not to repeat it again however Smith's recognition as a true actor came later in the episode called Papa's Got a Brand New excuse or the always cheerful will showed his dramatic side you know what Uncle Phil I'm gonna get through college without him I'm gonna get a great job without him I'm gonna marry me a beautiful honey and I'm having a whole bunch of kids I'll be a better father than he ever was and I sure as hell don't need them for that because ain't a damn thing he could ever teach me about how to love my kids how come you don't want me man the abandoned son's monologue prompted his screen Uncle Phil actor James Avery to whisper to his young colleague at the end of the scene now you're an actor one day a young woman came to audition for the role of the fresh Prince's girlfriend she did not Sue The Producers because of her small height however Smith really liked the young actress it was Jada Pinkett by that time will had already broken up with his girlfriend Tanya Moore and was looking for new adventures he sneaked into the set where Jada was filming the sitcom a different world in hopes of meeting her instead he talked to the girl sitting next to him in the audience Smith and Pinkett didn't get to talk that night as he went home with Cherise and Pino a cute stranger he managed to make laugh and three months later will made her his first wife Willard Carroll Smith III was born on November 11 1992. the couple called him Trey from birth because he was the third Willard Smith In The Family the famous song Just the Two of Us was a father's dedication to his son being popular again and given a second chance in life Will Smith didn't want to risk his future anymore he perfectly understood that work in the TV series was not Eternal and therefore began to look for parts in movies will saw his main goal in life as becoming the biggest movie star in the world to do this his manager JL began reading hundreds of scripts and considering auditions for various roles the actor was offered to star in the movie eight heads in a duffel bag and a fair pay of 10 million dollars but a gut instinct told Will to turn down the part and instead play a supporting role for just three hundred thousand in the Pulitzer Prize nominated adaptation of John guere's play Six Degrees of Separation in it a young swindler Paul Poitier rubbed off on the trust of a rich couple and fell in love with the housewife played by the Charming star Dr Channing Smith took his first role in the big screen too seriously he moved his family to New York where the movie was filmed besides the actor decided to try the method that was full immersion in his character as a result he became so confused that he no longer understood where will ended and Paul began this destroyed his relationship with his young wife and shortly after that the couple filed for divorce Cherie and I were in the first few months of our marriage with a brand new baby the actor recalled and for sure I can imagine that this experience was unsettling to say the least she'd married a guy named Will Smith and now she was living with a guy named Paul Poitier and to make matters worse during shooting I fell in love with stalker Channing not as well but as Paul I couldn't turn him off this nitwit Chapman who shot John Lennon said he did it because he wanted to draw the attention of the world Catcher in the Rye and the reading of this book would be his defense young Hinckley The Wiz kid who shot Reagan and his press secretary said if you want my defense all you have to do is read catch her in the Rye when will and his family returned to Los Angeles he was not himself everyone who worked on the series was also shocked by the actor's internal changes he could not remember how the Fresh Prince walked talked and behaved it lasted a full 10 episodes at the beginning of the fourth season Smith lost his sense of humor coolness Charisma and ability to improvise I immediately hired five or six of my friends from Philly to work on the writing staff on the crew and to surround me on set while I relearned how to play will it worked Fresh Prince became himself again and he never used the method again in his life at the end of 1993 Six Degrees of Separation got into the big screen and received widespread critical Acclaim reviewers praised the unexpected choice of Will Smith for the role of Paul from that time on he was considered a serious actor and will while still married finally got acquainted with Jada Pinkett and after the divorce in December 1995 she officially became his girlfriend Will's next move was a tandem with Martin Lawrence and the action comedy Bad Boys Martin himself contacted will and offered to read a script about two Miami cops who needed to switch roles to solve a crime one of them was married with Children the other was a rich Playboy a newcomer clip maker Michael Bay who had never worked on feature films before was hired as the Director at the first joint script reading the producers were disappointed by the Primitive lines of the characters and the papers went to the trash can you might think that a big time Hollywood producer slinging a screenplay into the trash three weeks before a shooting might be unsettling for two young actors and a director who'd never made a movie but the opposite happened due to his extensive experience with video clips Michael was used to unexpected obstacles money was never enough time was always short and he constantly had to improvise will and Martin were from the world of Television so they were used to coming up with phrases just on stage they were brought scripts five minutes before filming and all the time they had to change dialogues and lines so that they had a spark the fact that one of The Producers threw the script out only inspired the actors they shot the film in daylight and at night they prepared for the next shooting day there was such incredible Chemistry Between will and Martin that the latter at some point stopped worrying about the dialogues because the actors were constantly improvising on the set [Applause] think you were going to shoot me for a minute I was the whole process of shooting Bad Boys was an extremely educational experience although everything was done chaotically and randomly the director also made Smith who gained 11 pounds of muscles for the role appear almost bare-chested for the first time in the movie for the same scene where his hero ran after the car with the shirt unbuttoned will prepared for four months with a trainer from the University of California for my whole childhood I hated how actors ran in movies and I promised myself that the first time I ran on camera I was going to look like Carl Lewis I had trained high knees High elbows for four months I was ready the scene was shot in a single take and the director was delighted With It Bad Boys was released in cinemas in 1995. the success was not overwhelming but quite good it was at the premiere that Smith heard for the first time how one of the female viewers admired his naked torso it was the first time I had ever experienced a woman having a sexual reaction to my madness Smith recalled up until this point in my life I had used comedy to attract women and now I was being objectified it was wonderful all I could think was okay Michael Bay you were right I was wrong thank you from that point forward directors had to argue with me to keep my shirt on in the same year filming of the final sixth season of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air began there were talks about continuing the series but one of the guest stars John Amos advised will not to agree to it and ended on a high note the following week Smith gathered the entire cast of the series and told them that the sixth season would be their last the last episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air aired on May 20th 1996 the hour-long finale that shooting week was the most emotional one in Will's career and it was a decent goodbye to his television family the same year the legendary movie Independence Day directed by Ronald emmerich about an alien invasion was released the idea for the plot came to emmerich when he and Dean Devlin speculated about the existence of extraterrestrial life in 1994 while working on Stargate one of the journalists then asked the director why he made such a film if he himself does not believe in the existence of extraterrestrial life emmerich responded by saying that he was still fascinated by the idea of aliens coming to Earth and then asked their reporter how he would feel if he woke up one morning to find giant alien spaceships hovering over every major city on the planet afterwards Ronald returned to Devlin and said that he seemed to have an idea of what their next film would be about the U.S army initially agreed to help the authors of the movie with permission to shoot on military bases Consulting with actors who played soldiers Etc but after learning that the film would contain references to Area 51 they withdrew their permission Smith was cast in the lead role after his role in Six Degrees of Separation with a budget of 75 million dollars Independence Day grossed 306 million dollars only in the United States in May 1996 the themed restaurant Planet Hollywood opened in Sydney three World megastars Schwarzenegger Stallone and Willis invested in it Smith was also invited to the opening ceremony there the actor asked his colleagues the question that interested him the most at the time what do you need to do to become the biggest movie star in the world to which Arnold replied you are not a movie star if your movies are only successful in America you are not a movie star until every person in every country on Earth knows who you are you have to travel the globe Shake every hand kiss every baby think of yourself as a politician running for biggest movie star in the world will later admitted that the night Arnold had given him the key which would become his secret weapon for the next two decades he understood that the movie's success depended on the worldwide box office he and JL did the math and realized that a movie that might make say only 10 million in Spain would easily make 15 to 25 million dollars if he got there in person did the premiere talk to the press and set up a couple meetings with fans it also wouldn't hurt to learn a few phrases in the local language and say them in the news multiply that say by 30 and traveling to different countries would effectively double the potential Global box office the actor decided to check this discovery in emrick's movie he flew to Europe gave interviews held premieres and signed autographs this approach caused an incredible result a month after the start of distribution in the world Independence Day became the most expensive film in history its revenues exceeded 817 million dollars I had gone from being poor to rich to broke with no acting experience to starring in the highest grossing film in the world and I was only 27 years old in between filming we'll spend all his time with Jada they got engaged but the woman did not hurry to get married the actress did not believe in traditional marriage and was disgusted by the conventional wedding instead she dreamed of a simple but unusual ceremony she imagined herself on top of a mountain in a white dress alone with Will no priest no family no Witnesses only two of them and God Smith on the other hand was a supporter of making traditional vows in front of friends and family Jada's mother Gammy was on his side after learning that her daughter was already carrying her first child it was she who became their traditional wedding planner the ceremony took place in a historic castle in the suburbs of Baltimore on New Year's Eve a hundred relatives and Friends attended the ceremony the couple said their vows in front of the priest and officially registered their marriage and six months later the newlyweds had a boy named Jaden Christopher sire Smith however a year before this wonderful event in the life of the young couple will got his hands on the script of Another Science Fiction film about a secret Bureau that regulates monitors and controls the activities of aliens on planet Earth of course we are talking about Men In Black director Barry sonnenfeld wanted Smith for this role will did not even need to participate in the audition he was immediately invited to the role the actor read the script the same evening however he was worried that this was the second film about aliens in a row will thought it would be too much like Independence Day and due to the fact that the latter was such a huge hit there was a fear that the film would turn out to be less successful it seemed to me that at best this would be a lateral move Bad Boys was a buddy cop movie Independence Day was an alien movie and this new script was a buddy cop alien movie after Consulting with his manager JL Smith turned down this role however the film producer Steven Spielberg was in no hurry to give up he invited the actor to his house in the Hamptons introduced him to the director explained the film concept and finally convinced will to take part in the project Tommy Lee Jones became Smith's screen partner passenger seat belt see now we got to work on your people skills you know you get a much better reaction if you're a little more polite fasten your seat belt please whoa that was good when the filming began the script was not yet finished this led to delays in the filming process as some scenes had to be reshot later to match the script Men In Black was released on July 2nd 1997 exactly one year after Independence Day the date was not chosen by Chance the fact was that the days around the 4th of July were always considered the most desirable premiere date of the Year Studios were trying to release their promising pictures at this time since it was a long weekend people were willing to go to the movies every day which meant that the box office could be double or triple compared to any other week Will Smith could not help but take advantage of such an opportunity I decided I wanted to publicly lean into the pressure in all of my press interviews I began referring to the 4th of July weekend as big Willy weekend he recalled this phrase made all the headlines in Britain the joke came out with the double meaning the word Willie in slang meant male genitalia besides Smith recorded the soundtrack for the album with the same title Men In Black which was included on his debut solo album Big Willie Style this album reads the top 10 of the US billboard 200 and went platinum nine times the symbiotic relationship between movie song and music video was a perfect promotional storm the song works as a massive radio promotion for the movie that is essentially free the music video acts like a trailer for the movie and the movie sends fans to buy the album and request the song and video Big Willy's weekend was simply Sky High Men In Black grossed 51 million in the first three days of release only in the United States the worldwide box office eventually exceeded 600 million dollars the soundtrack had a circulation of more than 5 million copies to make even more money will release the album big Willy style which sold more than 12 million copies worldwide that's how will turned out to be the most successful actor according to the results of a survey of film industry professionals and the rating of stars capable of providing financing for projects success at the box office attractiveness to different Target audiences and influencing other factors he was the only one of all to receive 10 out of 10 points and Jeff Blake president of Global Marketing and distribution for Columbia Pictures told the New York Times we can say with confidence that Will Smith now owns the Fourth of July weekend since then the actor has officially and unanimously become one of the biggest movie stars in the world in 1998 Smith starred in Tony Scott's political action thriller Enemy of the State as lawyer Robert Dean the film grossed 250.8 million dollars at the global box office and received positive reviews from film critics many praised the script and direction as well as the actor's performance a year later we'll refuse the role of Neo in The Matrix in favor of the movie Wild Wild West despite criticism of the film Smith said that he did not regret his decision claiming that Keanu Reeves performance as Nia was better than what he would have achieved and the main movie soundtrack Wild Wild West topped the Billboard Hot 100. it became the lead single from the album willenium which reached number five on the billboard 200 and win double Platinum during the shooting of wild wild west The Smiths had a confusing family moment will and his brother Harry decided to fulfill their mother's dream and bought her a farm in Bryn Mawr Pennsylvania digging through old boxes during the moving out their mother found unsigned divorce papers almost 20 years ago she and Will's dad went through the whole process but for some reason they didn't sign the final papers Caroline had no idea that she was technically still married therefore she signed the documents and submitted them to the court when reviewing the papers it turned out that Willard senior was obligated to pay child support to his ex-wife during these years with interest and fine it was about a hundred and forty thousand dollars the mother strongly insisted on paying the entire amount but her ex-husband did not have it so Will came to the rescue secretly transferring the required amount to his father's account this made me the first person in the history of Pennsylvania to pay their own damn child support when Mom mom found out that I had paid Daddio's debt she was pissed and immediately wrote me a check for 140 000 making her the first person in the history of Pennsylvania to pay her own child back the back child support that they had paid for themselves on Halloween 2000 the Smith family had a baby girl Willow shortly after her birth will bought a 103 acre ranch 45 minutes Northwest of Los Angeles there were five houses a Lake stables Rich flora and fauna on the territory the actor recalled a gorgeous doe walked up to the front door on my first tour I took it as a sign I loved it I had the perfect wife three beautiful children and I was the Undisputed biggest movie star in the world the final triumphant brush stroke on my lifelong Dreamscape would be her Lake a house with a name however the wife did not like the house she didn't want to be alone most of the time on a big ranch with kids and a lot of people watching over the whole Farm however she put up with her husband's extravagant purchase will later regret not listening to Jada in his book will he wrote to all of my young male readers no means no nothing good comes from spending your hard-earned money on a family home that your wife doesn't want you're putting a down payment on Discord and for years you will be paying off a mortgage of misery the following year director Michael Mann invited the actor to star in a Muhammad Ali biopic Willow was very doubtful that he could play this legendary personality before that he had never boxed in his life he did not have enough muscle mass and he was afraid that his game would disappoint both Ali and his fans around the world then Muhammad called the actor and offered to meet for this meeting Smith went to Las Vegas where he met the living Sports Legend and his family he drew attention to the fact that they both have a similar sense of humor they were incredibly comfortable in each other's company Ali was a big kid just like will and his heart was open so many aspects of his life have been chronicled right for for so many years that everyone feels like we know the story you feel like you know Muhammad Ali you've seen him be funny you've seen him be angry you you've seen the full spectrum of emotions that any filmmaker would try to to capture you've seen it all so my question was what what are we going to show what are we going to put in into a movie that will be interesting that he people haven't seen already and then after uh meeting meeting Ali and the first time we met he told me uh I was almost pretty enough after this meeting will decided to agree to participate in the Project Director Mann took over the entire organization of the shooting process he studied everything related to Ali gathered a team of world experts teachers and trainers he managed the schedule and surrounded Smith with people who were close to the boxer the director also independently chose the clothes assembled the cast and even compiled a music playlist for the main star will was only required to obey he was introduced to coach Daryl Foster who taught unboxing and brought the actor into the necessary physical shape Smith was delighted with the coach Daryl's style of training is full immersion he doesn't ask anybody to do anything that he doesn't do over the next year he ran every mile jumped every rope lifted every weight sparred as many rounds every moment of training right by my side he ate when I ate he slept when I slept he worked when I worked they also took real professionals from the boxing world to play Ali's Rivals it was them who Smith improved his skills on however for the first three months he trained only with Daryl besides Michael Mann brought in a neuroscientist to see put it to help build new neural Connections in the brain the scientists made a looped 20-minute video of the typical movements of Ali's legs and arms twice a day will would sit in a dark room and watch this video staring intently at the same movements until they were ingrained in his brain now in the mirror the actor began to remind himself of Muhammad Ali he had 220 pounds of muscle and could lift the bar weighing 365 pounds The champ is here ladies and gentlemen the heavyweight champion of the world has arrived the one year of training in the five months of filming Ali was the most grueling mental physical and emotional test of my entire career but also the most transformative will recalled ironically the most difficult fight of Ali's career turned out to be the most difficult scene to shoot it took two weeks Michael Mann had remodeled an entire stadium and hire over 20 000 extras to fill the venue due to the lighting and humidity the temperature in the ring exceeded 104 degrees Fahrenheit so after the first day of filming Smith lost 10 pounds the spirit of boxing camp and support became practically a habit among the film crew everyone started running five miles early in the morning everyone trained in the hall everyone ate properly everyone read learned and offered new ideas everyone lived according to the routine to strive for a better version of themselves this joint Mission the purpose of which was to tell the story of Muhammad Ali formed a qualitatively new way of life for the group which lasted long after the ending of filming Ali brought the star's first Oscar and Golden Globe nominations and thus Justified his new lifestyle in 2002 after a four-year break from music Smith returned with his third album Born to Reign which reached number 13 on the billboard 200 and became gold the lead single was a song from the movie Men in Black 2 called black suits coming Nodge ahead which reached number three in the UK singles chart later that year Smith's first compilation album greatest hits was released featuring songs from his three solo albums as well as songs produced with DJ Jazzy Jeff the following year Smith returned the second part of bad boys in tandem with Martin Lawrence a lot of special effects were used in the film however there were also real locations for example the underground morgue of a Cuban villain in real life was a dairy with a fake facade the Mansion blown up in Cuba was not a pavilion set but a real house in Florida sold by its owner specifically for the movie despite receiving generally negative reviews from critics the film was a wild success at the Box office grossing 270 million dollars worldwide from the role of a cop of the president Smith went to the cop of 2035 starring the Sci-Fi Action film iRobot directed by Alex proyas his character detective Spooner who hated Humanity's new metal helpers investigated a murder case in which a robot turned out to be involved the movie was based on the collection of Isaac asimov's stories at first the script had nothing to do with the work of the famous American fiction writer however after the initial script reached the director and the film rights were purchased the producers decided to finalize the plot combining azimob's original story with an already developed script with the working title hardwired in this film for the first time in his career Smith appeared completely naked in one of the scenes you know see I was I was um you know I saw Brad Pitt in Troy you know and you know Brad Pitt is is is 40. you know so I was feeling bad I was like you know he's 40 and you know I'm I'm 35 and he's in better shape than me you know so I had to hurry up and get myself to together and and get in shape but you know every great actor needs one nude scene an Audi RSQ concept car was also developed specifically for the film which was used as Spooner's car in 2035. the company's bosses liked the new model so much that they decided to put it into mass production despite mixed reviews the film was a box office success and became another victory for the actor in 2004 Smith voiced the ambitious fish Oscar who accidentally became the shark storm and the animated film Shark Tale worldwide box office of nearly 375 million dollars made everyone talk about Will's Lucky Star again during this run my team was on fire nobody moved how we moved people in Hollywood were trying to figure out how we managed to be so productive and so successful so consistently in 2005 Smith tried himself in the role of Alex Hitchens a professional dating Guru in the romantic comedy hitch his character earned a living by teaching men how to woo women but one day something went wrong and it made Alex change his perspective on love and business Will's colleagues on the set were Kevin James and Eva Mendes whose character would be played by Jennifer Lopez by the way if you want a video about this fiery singer or someone else write to us in the comments we are open to suggestions the movie was quite warmly received by the audience and even now it is included in various tops of romantic comedies at the same time Smith's musical career did not stand still his last album lost and found was released in 2005 peaking at number six on the billboard 200 with lead single switch reaching the top 10 of both the Billboard Hot 100 and UK singles chart that same year Smith was listed in the Guinness book of records for attending three premieres in 24 hours the actor was on fire he had a number of the greatest successes in the history of Hollywood he worked 70 to 80 hours a week holidays weekends even vacations were his opportunities for promotion Smith spent whole days preparing for the next role rewriting the script or reading books and seeing friends occasionally he organized Posh Christmas and New Year celebrations because Jada and her children could invite all their friends and relatives for a week of fun in the mountains and will not forgetting about work for a minute use this time to make deals with business partners whom he also took with him to ski resorts all expenses paid the star did not consider himself a talented actor he explained the secret of his success as follows while the other guy is eating I'm working while the other guy is sleeping I am working while the other guy is making love well I'm making love too but I'm working really hard at it in the 2006 biographical drama The Pursuit of Happiness Smith first appeared on the set with his son Jaden when the boy overheard their phone conversation with the Italian director Gabrielle machino about the upcoming project he asked his dad to let him be a part of it the choice fell on Gabrielle after will watch his picture The Last Kiss although Machina did not speak English and their first meeting almost turned out to be a disaster the director's phrase thrown during the conversation finally made up Smith's mind he said if you don't choose me to direct this film please don't choose an American filmmaker because Americans don't understand the beauty of the American dream after these words will and his manager JL had no doubts and michina was entrusted with the work on the project by the way the film plot came to Jail's mind when he saw a story about a man named Chris Gardner on the news at first he was homeless and lived on the Streets of San Francisco with his little son and then became a successful stockbroker this was the real path of the hero and therefore Smith willingly agreed to transfer this incredible story to the big screen green Gabrielle could not find the perfect actor for the role of Gardner's son he had rejected 500 boys before Will and Jada decided to take Jaden to an audition muccino was delighted with the kit but the studio decided that this would be the film's biggest failure they thought that people would not be able to follow the plot if a Hollywood star and his six-year-old boy played on-screen father and son they were also afraid the audience would think it was nepotism and they would put themselves in a bad position from the beginning but Gabrielle insisted that studio agreed to audition Will and Jaden to test compatibility what's that say on the back of your bag my nickname we picked nicknames oh yeah what'd you say hot rod as a result the boy was invited to audition as many as nine times it was an unprecedented case at each audition he appeared in all his innocent six-year-old glory and demonstrated that he was perfectly suited for the role but after the ninth audition the studio appointed a tenth Jada lost patience she notified Gabrielle in the studio that Jaden was no longer available for the role at that moment the director decided that he could not make the film without Jaden the studio relented and finally offered the boy the role of Christopher Jr for me this was Perfection on the set at work with my son that was how I wanted to parent on the battlefield of life real Stakes real outcomes real hunting I could correct errors in real time and I could teach in real life scenarios this is how I Define parental love the pursuit of happiness was released in 2006. it was a box office and critical success earning will his second Oscar nomination if I felt Invincible before and now I really felt it I just made a movie about a homeless black guy who gets a job in the 80s and still crushed every other movie The Box Office That season I couldn't miss on December 10 2007 Smith was honored at Grauman's Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard he let this hand and Footprints outside the theater in front of many fans later that month Smith appeared on the big screen in I Am Legend the script was based on Richard Matheson's novel The Project could appear as early as the 90s then Arnold Schwarzenegger claimed the lead role of lonely Robert Neville one of those who remained alive in the post-apocalyptic world and Ridley Scott was supposed to be the director however after the estimated future budget grew to incredible proportions both considered it better to engage in other promising projects in the end Francis Lawrence became the director of the movie producer Akiva goldsmen decided to move the film's location from Los Angeles to New York to further enhance the feelings of emptiness because he said New York is never empty since it was impossible to film in a busy Square the filmmaker shot Will Smith in his Studio using a blue screen there were no decorations except for a small booth and grass spread on the studio floor more than a thousand extras as well as various military equipment were involved in the shooting of the scenes on the Brooklyn Bridge they were shot during six days and cost the studio about 5 million dollars single person that you or I has ever known is dead dead there is no God in the film a couple of hidden messages were left for Smith's fans for example throughout the film his character sang Bob Marley's song Three Little Birds he also sang it as a little Oscar in the Shark Tale and when Robert was attacked by zombies he drove over the same bridge that his character Agent J jumped from in Men In Black negative critics reviews were not at all reflected in the world box office I Am Legend became the highest grossing December film in history it was a movie that featured me on screen alone with a dog and it grossed around 600 million dollars the actor said the commercial success of the movie proved Smith's first position at the box office in Hollywood and in December 2008 TV Guide named him one of the 10 most attractive people in America the next film in the star's collection was the superhero Blockbuster Hancock based on the script of Vince Gilligan the creator of the famous Breaking Bad series the film script passed from one Studio to another for 10 years but no one dared to bring it to life during this time many famous actors were considered for the main role among them were George Clooney Ben Affleck Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio after various script rewrites and Personnel reshuffles Peter Berg became the film's director Smith's colleagues on the set were Charlize Theron and Jason Bateman I hate to burst your little crazy ladybug but it must not have been all that great because I don't remember call me crazy one more time originally the film was to be called tonight he comes it was later renamed John Hancock and then shortened to Hancock the name of the main character appeared due to an error in the original Will Smith character explained that when he woke up in the hospital a nurse told him to put John Hancock on one of the papers the fact was that John Hancock was an American congressman who gained great popularity for a particularly large signature placed under the declaration of independence of the United States later his name became nominal and meant a person's signature the film was shown at a U.S military base in the Middle East a week before its U.S Premiere it was free for all U.S military personnel at the base despite mixed reviews from critics for both the plot and Smith's performance the story about the drunken superhero grossed more than 600 million dollars in just six months after the success of I Am Legend it was the Will Smith era but the wealth popularity and fans undeniable love still could not fill the actor's void I was trying to fill an internal emotional hole with external material achievement will recalled in his Memoirs ultimately this kind of obsession is insatiable the more you get the more you want all the time never quite scratching the itch you end up with a mind consumed by what it doesn't have and what it didn't get and in a spiraling inability to enjoy what it has however the whole world thought that fortune smiled to Smith his family was considered exemplary will was the biggest movie star in the world the Karate Kid the first feature film in which Jaden starred grossed almost 360 million dollars at the global box office the first season of Jada's new series Hawthorne just aired Willow has signed a contract with Roc Nation to record her first album Trey was the star of his high school football team and the former wife together with the current one jointly raised all the younger Smiths nevertheless the truth about Will's void remained unknown to the audience and so far the drama seven pounds has been released besides the director Gabrielle machino and the lead actor at least 30 other people who previously worked on the pursuit of happiness participated in the film create Nation including actors and crew members this drama raised the issue of time for each person on the path to Redemption are some sins really so big that they simply cannot be cleansed how Justified will self-sacrifice be and what will happen to the most valuable gift and the person who dares to accept it despite the Deep content and great plot the film received generally negative reviews from critics Todd McCarthy from variety described the film as an endlessly sentimental fable about sacrificing Redemption that aims only at the heart at the expense of the head and what do you think about this movie we really liked it and you write your impressions in the comments we want to find like-minded people in 2012 Smith reappeared on the big screen as Agent J in Men In Black 3. after the film's released will was pleased to have finished his work on the franchise saying I think three is enough for me three of anything is enough for me we'll look at it and we'll consider it but it feels like that it might be time to let someone else do that Men in Black 3 released 10 years after the second part grossed more than 624 million dollars worldwide adjusted for inflation it became the highest grossing film of the famous franchise however despite Will's success in the movies his family slowly began to fall apart to prevent this the actor decided that they needed a family project that's how the idea of shooting the movie After Earth was born which was supposed to restore their connection one day Smith saw the program I shouldn't be alive about terrible deadly ordeals and incredible situations where people found themselves on the verge of death one of the stories was about a father and son who got lost in the wilderness far from civilization a father was injured after an accident and his teenage son had to walk alone for miles to find help and save his dad as I watched the actor recalled I kept imagining myself injured and helpless and Jaden climbing through the Wilderness trying to get to civilization to save me the scenario is stuck in my mind a coming-of-age story about a young man trying to save his father the idea morphed into movie it would also be about a father learning to trust and depend on a son it would be a metaphor a means to heal their relationship he sent the episode of I shouldn't be alive to M Night Shyamalan who really liked it and also thought that it could make a good movie filming took place in Utah Costa Rica and Philadelphia will it never worked on a film in his hometown before he agreed to teach Jada's brother Caleb Pinkett how to develop scripts because he was very good at history and historians usually find it easy to write plots and characters Smith considered him an ideal student Will's manager JL didn't share his optimism about the film he did not like the script at all as well as the idea itself as well as the time chosen for filming will didn't care he thought only of his family and was determined to surround Jaden with love and comfort it was hot in Costa Rica so Smith ordered huge air-conditioned tents set up in all locations so Jaden could rest between scenes play ping pong eat and listen to music thanks to this Jaden felt the support he needed and on the set of After Earth Father and Son really got closer but not for long After Earth was a magical bonding experience for Jaden and me he was fresh into his teens the mythological timing was perfect I had succeeded in illustrating the depth of My caring concern but the Father and Son honeymoon was short-lived After Earth was in abysmal box office in critical failure and what was worse was that Jaden took the hit Jaden had Faithfully done everything I'd instructed him to do that's why I wasn't going to do this bird tonight Jaden had Faithfully done everything I had instructed him to do and I had coached him into the worst public mauling he'd ever experienced after such criticism the relationship between Father and Son cracked and relations with the family were not getting better either it was at this time that Jada was supposed to celebrate her birthday to please his beloved wife Smith decided to arrange a real extravaganza I love planning events orchestrating spectacle and emotion in my mind the sum total of a happy life is the quality of your memory so I'm always looking for the most vivid memory that I can create as a child Jada had a very close relationship with her grandmother unfortunately she passed away a few years before her granddaughter's 40th birthday will secretly contacted Jada's Aunt who was in charge of the family archives she kept photos videos and letters as well as audio tapes on which Jada's grandmother recorded her thoughts in the last weeks of her life no one in the family has heard them yet they were to become Will's biggest gift for Jada's birthday so he decided to make a short documentary about her life will hired a team of researchers to study her family's genealogy and Trace her grandmother's lineage back to the slavery era he then found a director who compiled the information and made the movie however according to the star it was not enough the thing is that jadel liked the city of Santa Fe and New Mexico and the artists there so Smith decided to make a surprise and spend a three-day weekend there he bought an entire hotel in the city where he invited dozens of their closest friends and relatives every night they were supposed to have a great family dinner and afterwards they were all in for a surprise on Friday evening there was a closed art show on Saturday morning there was a spiritual Adventure a hike to Picacho Peak National Park apart from it the husband invited Jada's favorite artists to paint for them and conduct master classes for the whole family and the best thing of the weekend would be watching a documentary about Jada everyone really enjoyed their stay in Santa Fe the first two days however during Jada's documentary showing to the guests when all heard her grandmother's voice they fell silent the old woman's words were addressed to specific family members many of whom were present there for the first time since her grandmother's death Jada heard her voice I had seen the video a hundred times at this point so I was only watching Jada the entire place is in tears her family my family everybody all except Jada she sat motionless refusing to make eye contact with me returning to the hotel room the birthday girl asked to cancel the further celebration the argument turned into a real fight until Willow ran into the room and persuaded everyone to calm down after this incident the couple decided to take a break from their relationship and will to spend a couple of weeks alone no TV no phone no people and no conversations he went to their home in the Utah mountains far from civilization the actor arranged for food to be delivered to his door without any human contact for 14 days he did not speak to anyone let the house only for a morning walk and the rest of the time he remained in the house this experience made the star take a good look at himself and understand why he could not save his family in the following years Smith participated in not quite popular projects together with Margot Robbie he starred in the romantic drama focus and played the role of an experienced swindler who took over a young attractive woman Smith was set to star in the sci-fi thriller Brilliance an adaptation of Marcus say he's novel but left the project to work on really Scott's sport drama concussion in this movie Smith played Dr Bennett omala of the brain injury Research Institute who was the first to discover chronic traumatic encephalopathy the actor said that he had doubts about the film at the beginning of production saying some of my happiest memories are watching my son catch and throw a football I didn't want to be the guy who did a movie saying football could be dangerous however doubts disappeared when he met omala whose words about American ideals touched the star to the core the movie's called concussion but it's it's really about a whole lot more than that it's really about a man who was committed to the truth and through his faith in his God was able to make people's lives better you know so that was a deeply inspiring Pursuit although the film did not gain much popularity critics praised Smith's performance calling it sensitive and understated in 2016 Smith played Deadshot in the super villain team up action film Suicide Squad turning down a role in Independence Day Resurgence which he said would have been like clinging and clawing backwards however although the film was a huge financial success grossing over 700 million dollars at the box office it received negative reviews from critics later that year Smith starred in David Frankel's drama collateral Beauty portraying a New York Advertiser who falls into a deep depression after a personal tragedy during filming will learn that his father was terminally ill he was given six weeks every Sunday the son visited Willard senior and supported him one day after shooting one of the scenes at the fantasy action film bright the director David Iyer approached Smith and informed him that his father had become worse will immediately facetimed him it's 2 am in an empty downtown LA parking lot I stand out of the brightest street light I can find I want him to be able to see me we simply look at each other 20 minutes of Silence [Music] they had one last laugh together said goodbye and 45 minutes later Willard senior passed away at his father's funeral will met Jada and they decided to get back together our time apart has helped us both to discover the power of loving and freedom Smith said we are simultaneously 100 bound together and 100 free we agreed that we were both imperfect people doing our best to figure out how to be in this world joyfully what we needed from each other was unconditional love and support not judgment not punishment but total unbending Devotion to each other's growth and well-being in the following years Smith lived in harmony with his family in 2018 he decided to try himself in the Investments together with football player kaisuke Honda will started the Venture fund dreamers VC the company invests in startups that solve social problems but will didn't forget about movies either in 2019 he played genie in the film adaptation of Disney's Aladdin directed by Guy Ritchie on the Ellen talk show the actor told how he found his character who was voiced by Robin Williams in the cartoon yeah Robin you know he he really smashed this role he revolutionized you know what you could do in these kinds of uh of movies so I was listening and listening and then uh I started playing with the music and the music is where I found my end and I was like oh I could just use my sort of uh Fresh Prince Persona the movie grossed more than one billion dollars at the global box office and became the star's highest grossing film surpassing Independence Day the actor also appeared as an assassin who confronted his younger clone in angley's Gemini man the film became a box office bomb and received negative reviews later that year Smith along with Tom Holland voiced one of the main characters in the cartoon spies in Disguise and in 2020 he reunited with Martin Lawrence for the third film in their franchise bad boys for life before moving on to the last chapter we suggest you subscribe to our Channel and click on the Bell so you don't miss other incredible stories of the Stars [Music] when I was 11 years old my father decided he needed a new wall on the front of his shop this is how Smith's autobiographical book will co-written with Mark Manson begins it is about a person's desire to find Inner Harmony to overcome weaknesses and fears it is a kaleidoscope of humor iridition wit wisdom experience mistakes work on personality love for oneself love for a family and wild success after the book was published in 2021 Oprah Winfrey was so delighted with it that she invited will for an interview to discuss its main ideas and I saw I saw my book and she had it marked up she literally had the Post-it note inside the book and it was um you know it's a little different than my book in the same year the film King Richard was released it describes the life story of the two of the greatest athletes in the world Venus and Serena Williams There Will Smith played Richard sister's father and their first coach the real Venus and Serena became the film's executive producers along with her older sister Isha price according to price their involvement helped keep the film 100 real and act accurately portray their father's personality for King Richard Smith was willing to sit in the makeup chair for three hours to achieve the desired look director Reynaldo Marcus Green said that Smith and Warner Bros initially had a makeup team put Prosthetics on his face to make him look like the real Richard they made him look like Richard Williams it was straight up shocking I was like look you guys did an incredible job but I don't want that will has his acting coach who has been with him for 30 movies he had a dialect coach so he could speak similar to Richard we have so much and it would have been three hours of will being in the makeup chair every day who wants to do that Williams himself spoke warmly of Smith in an interview with Good Morning Britain the legendary Richard said I'll always stand by him I think he has done the best that he needed to do Beyonce was inspired to write a song for King Richard called be alive speaking about the powerful ballad Smith said the marriage of a movie in a song is the kind of magic that's unmatched in entertainment I was so happy when Beyonce called will admitted that he was scared to hear what the sisters thought of the movie so then I get to call that Venus and Serena are walking into the theater to see the film and it's like it's the worst two hours you're like the words you spend so much time creating these things and there's literally only one audience when you do I did it with you know with uh Muhammad Ali and then with uh Pursuit of Happiness and concussion with people that were all alive yes um and it's just there's that's it's the only audience and you just hope to God that you know you've spent a year to tell this story and you hope that they they like it and Venus and Serena cried all the way through and they loved it and one point fortunately they didn't just like the film they loved it and not only them for his performance will won an Oscar a Golden Globe award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for best actor and I accidentally touched his hand and he stopped beating on me he knocked me down his friends come over they all start stomping them and beating on me however the Oscars that year had a dramatic turn on on March 28th during the presentation of the nominees and the best documentary category comedian and actor Chris Rock joked about the shaved head of Jada Pinkett Smith who suffered from partial baldness whether the comedian knew about Pinkett Smith's disease is not known for sure the actress reacted to the joke with obvious displeasure and will decided to defend his wife's honor he walked up to the stage and slapped Rock before returning to his seat the ceremony continued as if nothing had happened and Smith went on the stage again about 40 minutes later this time to receive the long-awaited gold statuette in his speech he apologized to the academy and the nominees but not to Chris Rock love will make you do crazy things um to my mother a lot of this moment is really complicated for me but to to my mother um she didn't want to come out she had her knitting friend she has a knitting crew that she's in Philly watching watching with um um being able to love and care for my mother and my family my wife um I'm taking up too much time thank you for this honor thank you for this moment and thank you on behalf of Richard and and oracine the entire Williams family um thank you uh hoping Academy invites me back later that night Smith had fun at the traditional Vanity Fair party while the public suggested the unpleasant accident soon Smith hadu publicly apologized to the comedian who in turn refused to file a police report and did not provide any comments Jada Pinkett Smith was also tight-lipped calling this situation a healing period on her Instagram at the same time the academy made another statement that it did not welcome violence and would not allow it within its walls and began a disciplinary investigation at the same time the organizers of Oscar admitted that they were completely unprepared for what happened and behaved inappropriately in this situation many did not like that Will was not taken out of the hall and the audience after this unpleasant scene gave Smith a standing ovation during his acceptance speech however the actor was ahead of the academy members and even before their board meeting on his case announced that he was leaving the academy calling his actions shocking painful and unforgivable all of us to all my fellow nominees you know this is a community it's like I won because you you voted for me and it it really breaks my heart to have stolen and and tarnished tarnished your moment due to Smith's prompt response the Oscar board of directors had no choice but to announce their decision Smith was removed from all Academy events for 10 years additionally several Studios have shelved projects involving Smith including Netflix and Sony which had bad voice foreign development Smith's violent reaction to the failed joke caused an even more violent reaction from the public many were outraged by this incident and the fact that it was shown on television those who sharply condemned the actor noted that he completely deprived other nominees and awardees of the opportunity to enjoy their star hour and shifted the focus us of attention from art to himself it is worth noting that he was helped by numerous mass media which were more interested in covering the Scandal than the awards also many rightly pointed out that instead of slapping Rock Smith could have mentioned the host's inappropriate joke in his acceptance speech and condemn him for his indiscretion moreover this was not the first time that rock allowed himself not very pleasant jokes about Pinkett Smith instead the conversation shifted from the actress and Rock's argument to a fight between the two men there were also those who spoke and will support and condemned the Academy's verdict considering its decision too harsh the second participant of the incident Chris Rock refused to comment on it for a long time and only a year later the comedian Finally Revealed his vision of the situation in a stand-up performance which was shown in a Netflix special edition named Chris Rock selective rage baby you will never see me on Oprah gal crying you will never see it never gonna happen I couldn't believe it and I Love Men In Black who do you think was right in this whole unpleasant situation write in the comments well as we can see Will Smith is a controversial personality he adores his family but often hurts relatives and Friends he could not forgive his father for his cruelty for a long time but he tries to follow his guidelines all his life will loves suffers loses and finds again his whole path is not the path of a hero as it might seem at first glance this is the path of an ordinary person who with the strength of his spirit and Titanic work paved his way to World recognition maybe we all have something to learn from Will Smith don't you think and if you want to know even more about Will's relationship with Jada how it developed who they met during their breakup and what their children are doing now click on the video that appeared on your screen there we told facts about the star family that did not fit into this biography it was biographer make sure you click on the like button and see you in our next video

Channel: Biographer

Views: 232,302

Keywords: Will Smith biography, Will Smith bio, Will Smith life story, Will Smith personal life, Will Smith scandals, Will Smith interview, Will Smith awards, Will Smith real estate, Will Smith houses, Will Smith facts, Will Smith movies, Will Smith family, Will Smith kids, Will Smith wives, Will Smith and Chris Rock scandal, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett, The Fresh Prince, Hitch, I Am Legend, Enemy of the State, The Pursuit of Happyness, King Richard, Men in Black, biographer

Id: sYqPzlivZiU

Length: 79min 9sec (4749 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 25 2023