DENVER
Will Smith isn’t a superhero, but he understands what Uncle Ben tells Peter Parker in “Spider-Man”: “With great power comes great responsibility.”
The rapper, television producer and, oh yes, most bankable movie star in Hollywood promoted his new film, “Seven Pounds,” by crisscrossing the country to do good deeds while screening the movie to audiences.
It’s part of the lessons he learned while shooting “Ali,” the 2001 biopic that earned the actor his first Oscar nomination.
Playing the heavyweight champion reminded him always to look his fans squarely in the eyes and connect with them on a personal level while signing autographs. More important, he realized the need to take his films and their messages to many more places than just Los Angeles and New York City.
“There’s the commerce element of the movies, but we’ve got to be able to help people, and we’ve got to have service to humanity,” says Mr. Smith, who visited schools and hospitals in cities such as Dallas, Denver and Cleveland as part of his promotional tour.
“I want to be out with people just discovering what my purpose is,” he says. “What is my role as an American? What can I do to make our country better?”
He’s a born politician who doesn’t want the job, although his combination of charisma and marketing savvy could make even President-elect Barack Obama look like a rookie by comparison.
Some movie stars dismiss the heartland. Mr. Smith embraces Middle America. He even touts being raised on the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the Bible.
Call it cagey public relations or simply understanding one’s audience. Either way, it has made the Philadelphia native able to open both action adventures (“I, Robot”) and dramas (“The Pursuit of Happyness”).
Those powers will be sorely tested by “Seven Pounds,” opening Friday. Mr. Smith plays Ben Thomas, an IRS agent trying to help seven disparate people for reasons we don’t immediately understand.
No aliens to best. No robots to clobber. Just a lonely protagonist with a haunted look about him. It’s a complicated tale that speaks to the healing power of love and the possibility for redemption.
There’s nothing haunted about Mr. Smith in person - his ebullience can barely be contained. Nattily dressed in a suit vest and tie, he is polite and engaging, yet opinionated.
He first caught the film public’s attention with a small but potent role in 1993’s “Six Degrees of Separation.” Since then, he has blossomed into a box-office juggernaut, rattling off smashes including “Independence Day,” “Men in Black” and two “Bad Boys” films.
The erstwhile Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is 40 now, and he knows better than anyone that his success is an “only in America” story.
It’s why he teamed with “Pounds” director Gabriele Muccino in the first place for his 2006 hit “The Pursuit of Happyness.” Mr. Smith was sold on Mr. Muccino when the Italian director insisted that a non-American direct the project, a fact-based rags-to-riches yarn.
“He said, ’Americans don’t understand the American dream,’” Mr. Smith recalls of their earliest conversations. “We take life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for granted.”
Mr. Smith has plans beyond the cinema. He hopes one day to lead a delegation of students and artists to countries such as Iran and North Korea to spread cultural understanding without the distorting prism of politics.
As for his immediate film future, he says he’s ready to start reaching beyond the heroic roles of his recent past. Consider his alcoholic superhero “Hancock” a half step in that direction.
“I’m certain that somewhere in the next two or three years there will be a full-on bad guy in there somewhere,” he says. “I’m just hoping that people will continue to go with me and ride with me on this journey because I do have things I want to say.”
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