Will Smith Names Shocking Pick for Greatest Film Ever Made
The Hollywood superstar's all-time favorite movie choice will surprise you. It's not what fans expected from the blockbuster king who dominated box office charts for decades.
Will Smith's journey from chart-topping rapper to Hollywood royalty, then industry outcast after that infamous Oscar night slap, has been anything but predictable. His movie preferences follow the same unexpected pattern.
The Philadelphia native didn't stumble into stardom by accident. Smith wanted to be famous, period. Music, television, movies - whatever it took to reach the top. He got there faster than most imagined possible.
From Fresh Prince to Box Office King
Smith grabbed his first Grammy at 21 for "Parents Just Don't Understand," then nearly went bankrupt that same year. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air saved him financially, though he only took the TV gig because he desperately needed cash.
Once Smith outgrew television, he became either the biggest or second-biggest movie star of his generation. His silent competition with Tom Cruise kept things interesting. Between 1995 and 2013, Smith starred in 18 films. Sixteen of them made over $100 million worldwide. Eight consecutive movies crossed the $100 million mark domestically - a record no other actor has matched.
Star Wars Started Everything
Smith traces his mainstream ambitions back to 1977, when he first watched Star Wars as a kid. George Lucas's space opera changed everything for him, just like it did for millions of other children that year.
Star Wars and Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video "were the most influential pieces of entertainment art" for young Smith. But his biggest acting inspiration came from Hollywood's golden age.
"In terms of film," Smith told the Cannes Film Festival, "Probably Humphrey Bogart." He continued: "The amount of movies he made. The film that I've studied most is Casablanca. That's close to being a perfect movie. Even with the quick ending."
The Unexpected Winner
Casablanca isn't Smith's favorite film though. That honor goes to a 1957 David Lean masterpiece that swept the Academy Awards, winning seven of eight nominations including Best Picture and Best Director.
"The Bridge Over the River Kwai is my favorite movie," Smith declared. The wartime epic seems like an odd choice from someone who built his career on effects-heavy summer blockbusters. But Smith has always been full of surprises.
The film follows British prisoners of war forced to build a railway bridge for their Japanese captors during World War II. Lean's direction and the performances created something that still resonates decades later. For Smith, it represents the peak of cinematic achievement.