Yahoo News Will Smith recalls how Steven Spielberg convinced him to do Men in Black — he sent a helicopter
Will Smith is sitting down with friend and comedian Kevin Hart on the latter's Peacock show Hart to Heart to discuss his biggest movie roles.
Smith credits film producer James Lassiter as the "arbiter of taste," who convinced him in his "heyday" to make "the 10 movies I made at the top of my career."
"He just had an eye. I didn't want to make Pursuit of Happyness, I didn't want to make Ali," Smith recalls. Both film garnered him Best Actor Oscar nominations.
Peacock Kevin Hart and Will Smith on 'Hart to Heart'
"[Lassiter] picked Men in Black," Smith continues. "I kinda understood Men in Black like a little bit, but I didn't want to make Men in Black — that was the next year after Independence Day. So I didn't want to make two alien movies back to back."
Hart, like all of us, wonders why Smith changed his mind. Turns out, it didn't take much, just a little intervention from one of the movie's producers.
"Steven Spielberg sent a helicopter for me," Smith answers a dumbstruck Hart. "To talk. It landed at his house. And he had me at 'Hello.'"
Peacock Kevin Hart on 'Hart to Heart'
Well, at hello and at the first sip of some fizzy lemonade.
"And it was the first time I ever had lemonade with carbonated water," Smith adds.
"Yeah, you can't say no to that," Hart concedes. "And you had to act like you had it before."
Peacock Will Smith on 'Hart to Heart'
Going back to Men in Black, the galaxy's defenders, Smith says that Spielberg said the "coldest s---" to him: "Tell me why you don't want to make my movie...."
Smith notes the importance of the ellipses in Spielberg's statement, joking, "He put the ellipses at the end...if he had continued, he woulda said, 'Joker, you know I made Jaws, right? You know I made E.T.'"
The Oscar-winner then goes on to discuss taking on the role of homeless salesman Chris Gardner in the 2006 drama The Pursuit of Happyness, based on Gardner's memoir.
For that film, there was no helicopter and no carbonated lemonade in influencing Smith's decision. Rather, he points to a 20/20 piece on Gardner he saw after reading the script. He credits the news program for helping him find the structure of the story. And then he met Gardner himself.
Peacock Kevin Hart on 'Hart to Heart'
"There's something about human beings who have suffered. And overcome. Chris Gardner is one of those people," Smith says. "He took me to the bathroom in Oakland where he had to sleep with his son. I stood in that space with him and it was like the ghost jumped in my body and then I was like, 'Got it.'"
Smith then gets a bit philosophical, stating how he believes "people who have suffered to that level have a secret" and that he "could tell" Garnder had a secret for him to learn through the process of making The Pursuit of Happyness.
Peacock Kevin Hart and Will Smith on 'Hart to Heart'
"At that point in my career, I had discovered that I don't work for money, I work to learn," Smith continues. "I work to grow. I work to meet people. I work to expand and to evolve."
Smith has been back to work, at least before the SAG-AFTRA strike, on numerous projects including Bad Boys 4 and a remake of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles co-starring Hart.
This, of course, is more than a year after the King Richard star won his Oscar and slapped his way into infamy, provoking a 10-year ban from the ceremony, the suspension of several projects, and the overshadowing of his last film, 2022's Emancipation.
We'll have to wait and see if Smith discusses that incident on the Hart to Heart season finale airing Aug. 3 on Peacock.
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