A role to remember

The Thunderstruck interview with Will Smith
about The Pursuit of Happyness

Actor Will Smith is known for his lengthy list of blockbuster film projects. He has starred in Independence Day, Enemy of the State, Ali, Men in Black, Hitch, and I, Robot. In portraying Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness, Smith provides a stellar Academy Award-worthy performance. The film is about the true story of a single father who cares for his young son while attempting to scrape out a living in San Francisco in the early 1980s. In the midst of this struggle, the father and son find themselves on the streets, unable to find a shelter that would take a man and his son. The two are forced, at one point, to sleep in the restroom of a subway station.

The film focuses in on the love of a father and his desire to create a brighter future. For the first time, Will Smith actually acts with his own son, Jayden. The two have the unmistakable chemistry of, well, father and son.

Will Smith spoke with Thunderstruck creator Steve Beard and a group of journalists to discuss the film.

How did this film idea start?
It started with the 20/20 piece. We loved the piece, the imagery. Black fatherhood is—that’s not the image that we have in America—so it was something that’s a powerful idea. I mean, the 20/20 piece was done brilliantly, and it told the story.

What made you want to do this film?
Without getting too esoteric about it, I love and am connected to the idea that your will and your desire create what your future is. And the white man don’t create the future, and your circumstances don’t create the future. None of that creates your future. Your desire to be who you want to be and your commitment to that is what creates your future. And to me, that’s the idea that this country is designed upon. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—not life, liberty, and happiness. And Chris Gardner believed it, accepted it, and committed to it in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. And that’s something that I’ve always believed. There’s this bizarre naiveté for the audacity of hope that I’ve been committed to. And I’ve always felt it and I’ve always believed it. And Chris and I share that belief in the power of our desire.

Did you go after this yourself after the 20/20 piece?
No. It was almost three days later after the 20/20 piece—a couple people, they were a little quicker on the draw than we were. And they sent it to us. And I don’t know if you’ve seen the piece, but it is absolutely brilliant. There’s the individual image that you get. Chris Gardner walks the steps and he actually goes back to the subway bathroom that he stayed in with his son. And that was the image that made me want to make this movie. And subsequently, Chris took me and walked me through the steps. And there’s a moment that actors look for when you get it. It’s like trying to find a character. You’re in a dark room and you’re just feeling around. And every once in awhile you grab something, ah, yeah, that’s it. And it’s dark and you can’t see anything, you’re just wandering around. And when I walked into that bathroom with Chris, and stood there, that was, I got it. I understood. And then after that to actually shoot the scene—it was a rebuild of the set—but to shoot the scene with my real son on my lap. It’s no acting necessary.

This movie does not focus on the issue of racism. Why is that?
There’s an idea that’s almost a quantum physics idea that Chris and I both connect to that something is only there if you acknowledge it’s there. Something only has power over you if you acknowledge that it has power over you. And Chris specifically said that sure, he knows he’s in America. He knows that there was probably racism. But he never paid attention to any of that. He found good people. He connected to good people. He felt that if he allowed himself to say that there’s racism and somebody’s trying to keep me down because I’m black, that it actually weakens him in acknowledging the obstacle.

Was it difficult portraying a man who is alive as opposed to a character who is completely fictional?
As an actor when you make these movies you actually get to walk someone’s footsteps. You actually get a rare glimpse and a thorough glimpse into someone’s life and see what moves they would have made differently than you would have made. And you always ask yourself, where would your braking point have been? Am I as much man as Chris Gardner? Am I as much man as Muhammad Ali? Would I have stayed in prison for 27 years if I was Nelson Mandela? Or would I just say whatever I had to say to get out of there?

The bathroom scene in this movie—I can’t imagine that I would have been able to stand up that next morning and go to work the way that Chris was able to do it. To get to zero, absolutely nothing, they had nothing, and the only thing you have left is an idea. And he woke up, washed his son in the sink, and went to work based on an idea. And that is something that is hugely inspiring to me. And my hope artistically is that it could be inspiring to other people. But I can’t imagine that I would’ve walked out of that bathroom the same person. Or, as Chris Gardner did, walked out a better person.

How did Jaden relate to the part?
He’s an extremely sensitive child. Like, let me give you a sense of how his makeup is. It was Jada’s [Smith’s wife] birthday a couple years ago. And that’s a big thing to me. I like to go all out—a big surprise party, all of her friends and everything. I’m flying high school friends in and all of that stuff. And all of the kids, we made a video. We did all of this stuff for her birthday.

The night before, Jaden comes in the room, and he’s crying, and he taps me. He said, “I need to talk to you.” So we go out, and I say, “What’s wrong.” And he said, “Um, why are you making me lie to Mommy?” And I said, “Well, what do you mean?” He said, “Mommy asked me what we were doing tomorrow? And I had to tell her a lie.” And I said, “Right, well, no, it’s a surprise. We’re setting up a surprise for Mommy. So what we’re trying to do is, we’re just trying to make her not know. Because the less she knows, the bigger the surprise is.” And he said, “Yeah, but that’s a lie, right?” And I said, “Wow, no, well, it’s, yeah, it’s kinda like that.” He said, “Daddy, my stomach hurts. And I can’t sleep. I don’t wanna lie to my Mommy.” And I was like, “Uh, okay what do you want to do?” And he said, “Can we wake her up? I have to tell her because I’m getting sick.” And I was like, wow!

How are you going to argue with that? And he went in and told his mom everything. He’s so deeply connected to human emotion. The director [Gabriele Muccino] would just explain it to Jaden. [In one scene, the son drops his only toy, a Captain America action figure, and they must leave it because they cannot miss their bus or they might not get into a homeless shelter across town.] Jaden would say, “Why would I cry over this Captain America?” And Gabriele would say, “Well that’s the only toy you have.” And he said, “Well why doesn’t my daddy buy me more?” And he said, “Well, your daddy can’t afford to buy you more.” “My daddy can’t afford to buy me one more toy?” He said, “No, he can’t.” And he said, “Well, why don’t we ask the bus driver to please stop. And we go get that one.” He said, “Well, if you’re late for the shelter, then you won’t get in and you’ll have to sleep outside again.” And he said, “Wow. That’s kinda sad, Daddy.”

I said, yeah, it is, that’s kinda the situation that we’re in right now. And he took a moment and he thought about it. And he said, “Okay you can role.” And it was like, he just understands. He just gets it.

There is a very moving scene in Glide Memorial United Methodist Church. What was that like?
Well, you know, Rev. Cecil Williams was very open with us and welcomed us in. And all of the people in those scenes are actual people who stay at Glide. When you’re around Chris Gardner, Rev. Cecil Williams—people who have committed their lives to other people—you just feel like you ain’t doin’ nothin’. You know, you’re just doin’ nothin’ with your life. And just the spirit—and that’s always amazing to me that for people who can survive on spirit—people who can survive on an idea.

I came from a two-parent household. Our electricity would get cut off and the gas would get cut off every once in awhile. But for the most part I always felt like my worst fall was back to my parents’ house. And the idea of homeless; just think about that idea! And Rev. Cecil Williams was explaining that homelessness is hereditary. And what happens is most people, someone in your family at some point, bought a home. So for generations, every one will have someplace to stay in a worst-case scenario. And to be so disenfranchised and so disconnected that you have to sleep outside—you know that is a huge problem and an emotional issue, and let’s just hope there’s people a lot smarter on me working on it.

You used the phrase, “audacity of hope”—where does that come from and what do you mean by it?
Who did I hear say that? Oh yeah, that was Barak Obama. It is the idea that you believe something with no facts or figures to support it. And actually if you look at the facts and figures, there’s absolutely no reason for you to think the thing is going to happen that you believe. And the audacity of hope, the idea that you are going to be so arrogant, or that you’re going to be so disillusioned, that you are going to believe while you’re sleeping on a bathroom floor, that you’re going to own a stockbroker’s firm. And it takes real audacity to hope.

I’m connected so much to this film and the spirit of this film because that’s the fiber of this country. You know, I think this is a good time to remember why and how this country was designed—the reason that this country was put together.

You know, “We the people, in order to create a more perfect Union; to enhance justice; to provide for the common defense; to ensure domestic tranquility; to promote the general well-being of all the people; secure the blessing of liberty on ourselves and our posterity, or ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

There are serious poetic ideas in the promise of what this country is supposed to be. And I believe it all starts with the audacity of hope.

What have you personally had the audacity to hope for?
It feels weird for me to talk about my audacity of hope in the framework of Chris Gardner’s life. I’d have to say no, I’ve never had any hope as audacious as Chris Gardner. But I’ve had situation where there’s no reason to believe that things are going to turn out the way that they’re going to turn out. When Jada and I got together, that period in our lives, there’s no reason for us to be successful in our relationship. There was a whole lot of obstacles lined up for us not to make it. And to me, even on that small level, we always say that divorce can’t be an option. Because if you allow divorce to be an option, there’s absolutely one day you’ll check that box. So it’s audacious to remove it as an option. It just isn’t an option. That’s not one of the choices that we have, no matter what happens. And that type of audacity is what it takes to make things successful.