Mr. and Mr. Smith

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A week after Thanksgiving,a couple dozen radio and print journalists gather in a conference room at the Regency Hotel for a Pursuit of Happyness press junket. Smith, on break from shooting the sci-fi zombie flick I Am Legend, is smartly dressed in a coffee-colored turtleneck and light brown blazer. His posture is better than it was in Baltimore; he sits tall behind a chunky battery of microphones.

As the questions begin, Smith quickly deflects one about how it feels to have five $100 million-plus-grossing films in a row. Instead, he explains how excited he is at the prospect of moving people and making a difference with Happyness. He charmingly refers to his ''limited gifts'' and ''average talent.'' He praises his director and son for helping him overcome his ''emotional roadblocks'' and ''Will-isms.'' He places Gardner's story within ''the intellectual and spiritual design of America.'' And, of course, he talks about wanting to ''do good.''

Before long, a black female reporter wakes up the elephant in the room by asking about struggle and poverty in the film. ''I know a lot of folks who have these experiences,'' she says. ''Especially black folks. Let's just call it what it is.'' Racism, in other words. Smith seems the slightest bit flustered — why doesn't the movie make any mention of race? — and starts speaking slowly, feeling his way toward an answer. Ultimately, he invokes a bit of quantum theory — and turns it into a black-power manifesto for the millennium. ''Objects exist if you acknowledge they exist,'' he says. ''So we're not going to spend no time even talking about the white man.'' What he means is that when you fixate on obstacles, they just get harder to jump over. And Will Smith certainly fears no white man — just ask Tom Cruise.

Originally posted Dec 07, 2006 Published in issue #911 Dec 15, 2006 Order article reprints

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