Will Smith has been famous for decades, being involved in all sorts of movies. Starting his career off in television, Smith went on to star in franchise films like "Men In Black" and romantic comedies like "Hitch," while also managing to star in critically acclaimed films that earned him some of the most prestigious accolades in Hollywood. He got some great career advice at the start of it all, from none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Smith shared the story in the documentary film, "Number One on the Call Sheet," sharing that he attended the opening of Planet Hollywood, where he ran into three of the shareholders of the restaurant: Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and Bruce Willis.
"I walked into a room, you know, 1990, 1991, something like that," said Smith.
"'Fresh Prince' was just on, just getting started. So it was Arnold, Bruce, and Sly, and I walked up to them, and I was like, ‘Hey, look, I don’t mean to interrupt y’all, but I wanna do what y’all do. What’s the secret? I know you know something that other people don’t know," continued Smith.
"And Arnold said, ‘If you want to be a movie star, you’ll never be a movie star if your movies are only successful in America. Your movies must be successful everywhere on Earth.’"
Why the advice proved pivotal for Smith's career
While it may seem like an obvious piece of advice now, when the global box office is such a big deal, it was the type of thinking that in that era elevated careers beyond the mainstream. "And I was like," said Smith, miming a gasp.
"Box office-wise, if you’re big enough around the globe, you can flop a movie in America and still make the studio’s money back in Europe, Japan. When Russia opened up, we did one of the first premieres in Russia. So the idea of global success, the number one everywhere on Earth was how I was measuring success."
Since, Smith has been involved in major films that have made a lot of money all over the world, including "Independence Day," "Hancock," "I Am Legend," and more.