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Will Smith Didn’t Enjoy ‘After Earth,’ Just Like You

Will Smith Didn’t Enjoy ‘After Earth,’ Just Like You

Once Will Smith’s dreary, M. Night Shamylan-helmed After Earth launched, almost nobody seemed to care for it. That includes Will Smith, who opened up to Esquire about After Earth representing a low point in his career—even lower than his 1999 bomb, Wild Wild West. “Wild Wild West was less painful than After Earth,” Smith told the reporter. “Because my son was involved in After Earth and I led him into it.” Also, notably, Smith received word that the movie had bombed commercially on the same day he heard that his father had cancer—so, a pretty rough day all around.

He says the movie’s failure forced him to reassess his priorities. “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. I had to dive into why it was so important for me to have number-one movies …There’s a certain amount of suffering that you have to be willing to sustain if you want to have a good life. The trick is to be able to sustain it with your heart open and still be loving.”

Of course, having a massive-budget movie flop isn’t exactly “suffering,” but his point stands. It’s an interesting interview, with Smith talking very candidly about the “hole” in his life that success has been unable to fill. You can read it all here

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