Will Smith continues his reign as box office champ

By RICK BENTLEY

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Back in the early 1990s, just as Will Smith was making the transition from rapper to television star with “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” he presented his manager an interesting challenge.

“I told him I wanted to be the biggest movie star in the world. He is like ‘OK. We should figure out what they do and plot a course,” Smith says. He accents the comment with that mischievous smile that has made him a hit on both the small and big screen.

Obviously, they figured it out. They realized the highest-grossing movies were those filled with special effects.

The course they plotted continues. Smith’s latest project, the sci-fi fantasy “I Am Legend,” hits theaters Friday. Smith plays the survivor of a man-made virus that has wiped out most of the planet’s population. The majority of the survivors are vampirelike creatures that he must battle.

The big-budget, special effects action film joins movie credits that include the blockbusters “Men in Black,” ‘Independence Day” and “Men in Black II.” He’s picked up a couple of Oscar nominations for “Ali” and “The Pursuit of Happyness.”

Those are the box office credentials of a major movie star.

Of course, being a movie star is more than just box office totals. A big part has to do with the way a performer acts. In Smith’s case, he is just as easygoing and accessible as he was back in 1990 when he was a lanky 22-year-old with a new television show.

Director Francis Lawrence describes Smith as always being positive, a great guy, a professional and smart.

Smith talks in a no-nonsense tone about the demands of making “I Am Legend.” Most of the movie features Smith alone on the screen. He does have a dog and a computer off which he bounces dialogue. The majority of the time he’s alone.

“It was such a wonderful exploration of myself. What happens is that you get in a situation where you don’t have people to create the stimulus for you to respond to. What happens is that you start creating the stimulus and the response,” Smith says. “There is a connection with yourself, where your mind starts to drift to in those types of situations, that you learn about yourself things you would never even imagination.”