I always thought Will Smith was a talented actor with a debilitating tendency to choose mediocre scripts. Scrolling through his filmography, he has close to 50 acting credits listed and most of them aren’t good movies.
As it turns out, after a brief glance at all of his credits, I’ve only really liked six movies Smith has starred in: “Enemy of the State,” “Ali,” “I Am Legend,” “Men In Black,” “Men in Black III” and, to a lesser extent, “King Richard.” That doesn’t seem to matter much since he’s been Oscar-nominated three times and won once.
All of this to say, Smith, appearing on the latest episode of “Hot Ones”, was asked what work he’s proudest of, and his answer might surprise you.
“I think the individual best movie, all around, that I’ve ever made is ‘The Pursuit of Happyness,'” Smith said. “Right behind that is the first ‘Men In Black.’ The direction, cinematography, and music […] If I had to put four of them in a time capsule it would be ‘The Pursuit of Happyness,’ the first ‘Men In Black,’ ‘I Am Legend,’ and probably ‘King Richard.'”
The 2006 film is based on the true story of an unhoused San Francisco-based single father who rises up in the ranks of stockbroking, beginning with door-to-door sales, all while living with his young son. Smith says it’s the “best movie” of his career.
‘Pursuit’ is no doubt one of Smith’s best performances, and even garnered him an Oscar nomination. It was definitely a great showcase for his acting talents, even if the script was somewhat maudlin in its execution. Nevertheless, after being initially met with modest reviews, it is now one of his more celebrated movies (an impressive 8.0 score on IMDb).
On a side note, I still think Smith royally messed up a golden, and career-defining, opportunity when he turned down the titular role in Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained,” and for the most ridiculous of reasons (via EW):
Django wasn't the lead, so it was like, I need to be the lead. The other character was the lead. I was like, 'No, Quentin, please, I need to kill the bad guy.' I thought it was brilliant. Just not for me.