When did it work wonders? Bad boys, Independence Day, men in blackAnd Enemy of the state Combined, it brought billions of dollars in ticket sales and established him as the biggest name in the business, only Smith got too close to the sun when he snubbed The Matrix for that Wild Wild West and fell back to earth.

At the turn of the millennium he was the star of all stars, but still hadn’t had a leading role in a drama. There’s only so much time an artist can glide through his career without taking on a new challenge and foraying into dramatic territory for the first time, as the lead actor earned a first Oscar nomination as Smith as Michael Mann moderated Ali.

More blockbuster flames followed Men in Black II, Bad Boys II, Shark Tale, I, RobotAnd Trailer hitchand when Smith returned to heavyweight drama once again in Gabriele Muccinos The pursuit of happinessThe end result was another Oscar nomination. It was no coincidence that removing the things that made him a household name resulted in his best work, which wasn’t lost on Smith after he admitted his own insecurities played a crucial role.

“I’ve always thought of myself as having average talent, and what I have is a ridiculous, insane obsession with practice and preparation,” he said IGN before explaining how Mann and Muccino were able to recognize his tried-and-true traits surfacing from a mile away that neither of them wanted to see.

“Gabriele told me one day, ‘Don’t pose for my camera,'” he continued. “I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, “You’re posing for my camera.” I don’t want you posing for my camera. You make faces like you’re hurt. We will switch off. You go away. “You’re coming back when you were a real heart. I was like, ‘Wow’.”

Smith acknowledged that Muccino and Michael Mann “are the two directors I’ve worked with who know all my tricks, they can see through me and all the ‘will-isms’ and the things I can do to wow the audience.” . “laugh or smile or cry, and they beat these things out of me.” Metaphorically, of course, but those Oscar nominations showed it was a worthwhile tactic.

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