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Friday, January 21, 2005

Matt Adcock Meets Will Smith

Just sorting some files and found this... my first 'Hollywood Star' interview back from August '04...
Slightly star struck and still buzzing from having just watched iRobot for the first time (of many) here it is...

Matt Adcock Meets Will Smith

It’s not everyday that you get to interview a Hollywood star like Will Smith, and possibly even less likely that you find you have something absolutely in common. In the flesh he is every bit as cool, sexy, funny and full of energy as I’d imagined, so, obviously we’re very much alike (OK, so at least we both cite Star Wars as our favourite sci fi film). And Will is a big sci fi fan as he explains “I love it, as a kid growing up, science fiction was my genre. I loved the imagination of science fiction. I think at heart, I'm really an idealist and there's nowhere for me in entertainment that you can really stretch the bounds of human possibility more than science fiction. I just love it. Star Wars was almost spiritual to me, when I make films – my aim is make people get the feeling I got when I first saw Star Wars”. That must explain his fondness for roles in films like Independence Day and Men in Black and now I ROBOT which has certainly come the closest of any Will Smith film to giving me that illusive ‘Star Wars’ feeling…

Talking of Star Wars, Will was keen to point out that he does like robots really – especially R2 D2 who he describes as the one that the “chicks dig”, but that “you can forget that C3PO guy”. In I ROBOT you see, Smith plays a ‘robo-phobic’ detective who hates the robots that have been integrated into our society. He explained about shooting the robot scenes. “We used a process on this film that was similar to the process they used for Golem on Lord of the Rings. Alan Tyduck played Sonny who is the main robot and they've used all of his facial expressions, they've used his body language, and they've used his voice. So, there's a real human quality to the robots that are really fun for me, but I think will be chilling for people watching the movie. It's scary, icky, kind of human-y!” (Laughs)

One reason a lot of women may want to check out I ROBOT is the controversy around the shower scene…
“The nakedness was important,” Will says, “that wasn’t gratuitous, it was ‘deep character nakedness’ because my character has a condition called ‘Survivor's Guilt’ – he survived a crash and is deeply paranoid. That’s why I didn’t have the door shut or the shower curtain across… in case somebody tried to attack me!”

Err OK then, so how would he describe I ROBOT overall? “This movie is a wonderful, blend of genres and it's smart when it's supposed to be smart, it's funny when it's supposed to be funny. The special effects are incredible but it doesn't depend on the special effects. I ROBOT, is what I think will be the future of action movies in that it's a character driven story, where the action sequences and explosions are extra.” Finally – now that his wifeJada Pinkett-Smith is also staring in blockbusters – how does that work out at home? ”Hey, she beat me last year. She beat me last year with The Matrix sequels. She has a good shot at me this year with Collateral – it’s ridiculous!! Collateral is really, really good. It's just fun for us. We both know that our priorities don't lie in this business. We just have a little fun with it, and extra enjoyment of the time we spend together. It gives us something else to talk about. It's definitely not an issue.”


Click here to read: Matt Adcock's Film Reviews


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