Will Smith talks turning 50 and working through a bucket list of dangerous things during an appearance on Friday’s “Graham Norton Show”.
The actor, who did a terrifying bungee jump over the Grand Canyon to mark his 50th birthday, admits: “A huge part of my childhood was marked by fear and a huge part of my drive in life was marked by fear.”
“You can generate great things, you can succeed and win, but you can never really be happy if you’re scared.”
Smith continues, “I’d turned 50 and I’d created this wonderful life and this wonderful career, but I felt trapped by being Will Smith – I have kids so I can’t do that, or I’m famous so I can’t say that, or people look at me so I can’t behave like that – so part of the bucket list was to give myself the freedom to do all of the things that I had put in my mind that I couldn’t do. I’m now being adventurous, and I’ve always wanted to be that.”
Smith also talks about the moment he got the call to star as the Genie in the new “Aladdin” movie.
He tells the host, “It was actually terrifying for me getting the first call. It was a deep honour being asked, but Robin Williams didn’t leave much room for improvement – he revolutionized what you can do in animation.”
“I watched the movie a couple of times and it was only when I started playing with the music and rapping that it gave me an ‘in’ to maintaining the nostalgia and paying homage to Robin Williams’ genie, while adding a new flavour.”
