WEDNESDAY, JULY3, 2002
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 27
Will Smith teams up with Tommy Lee Jones for the sequal to Men in Black. Smith also juggles family responsibilities to two sons, a daughter and wife. CONTRIBUTED ART
Will Smith banks on a blockbuster with MIB II
NEW YORK It is the steamiest June weekend in Manhattan in years, with temperatures in Central Park skulking into the mid-90s. Will Smith, of course, breaks no sweat.
And forget Mama's advice about light colors in the heat: Smith's wearing head-to- toe black broken up only by the big gold interlocking G's on the buckle of a Gucci belt that cost more than you make in a month, and by a pair of silver dog tags.
"One has the name of my boys," said Smith, fingering the necklace, "and the other one's my girls. Jada gave it to me on Father's Day last year."
The boys would be Trey Willard Smith III, age 10, born to Smith and his first wife, Sheree Zampino and Jaden, almost 4. The girls would be his daughter Willow, 2, and Smith's wife Jada Pinkett-Smith, mother of Jaden and Willow.
Willow and Jaden had to stay home, but Trey was allowed to accompany the Smiths to a screening of "MIIB: Men in Black II" a few days earlier, and Smith figures Trey's glowing review is the only one that matters.
"If you can impress your own kid," said Smith, "the rest is pretty much gravy."
To some, it may seem like the last decade of Smith's life has been gravy, and with "MIIB: Men in Black II," which
opens Wednesday for the Fourth of July holiday weekend, he looks to have fallen into the gravy bowl.
Though 1997's "Men in Black" made more than $600 million worldwide, standing as Columbia Pictures' most successful film until "Spider-Man," Smith reportedly was paid about $5 million and had none of the all-important back end, a percentage of the eventual gross.
For the sequel, Smith, 33, is rumored to have gotten $20 million still a few bucks shy of the $25 million per picture now being commanded by Mel Gibson and Tom Cruise, but director Barry Sonnenfeld said Smith's back-end deal could amount to even more than the actual paycheck.
"Basically, to make the deal, Steven had to give up some of his slice," said Sonnenfeld of the film's executive producer, Steven Spielberg. "There's still the potential for everybody to make a lot of money unless, of course, I screwed up, which is always possible."
Even as Smith attempts to make the case that making the sequel was never about the payday, he displays a bigger grin than usual.music. It would be intimidating if he weren't so wonderful. But then he just has this serenity that makes you instantly calm, like `I have seen the light.'"
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