Will speaks on his worst L.
Back in 2013, Will Smith starred in the M. Night Shyamalan directed flick After Earth, which co-starred his son Jaden, making it the second film the father and son duo had together. After the initial release, the movie was critically panned across the board and failed the match the box office success of Smith’s previous efforts.
In a recent interview with Esquire, Smith referenced a quote his TV aunt gave his character on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, advising “Don’t let success go to your head and success go to your heart.”, which he says meant more to him after the films failure commercially and critically. “That was a valuable lesson for me a few years ago with ‘After Earth, That was the most painful failure in my career.”
No actor is immune to bad films, as Smith had another flop on the resume with 1999’s Wild Wild West. But he claims After Earth’s failure mattered more for personal reasons. “‘Wild Wild West’ was less painful than ‘After Earth’ because my son was involved in ‘After Earth,’ and I led him into it. That was excruciating,”. After the box office results arrived that Monday, Smith said he was devastated for roughly 24 minutes until he received a phone call about his father being stricken with Cancer, which he says put things viscously into perspective.
At that moment, Will says he had an epiphany.
“That Monday started the new phase of my life, a new concept: Only love is going to fill that hole,” Smith said. “You can’t win enough, you can’t have enough money, you can’t succeed enough. There is not enough. The only thing that will ever satiate that existential thirst is love. And I just remember that day I made the shift from wanting to be a winner to wanting to have the most powerful, deep and beautiful relationships I could possibly have.”
With all those box office smashes, I think he’ll be alright. Jordan didn’t make every shot. – @Rocko_CNK
