The New Willennium

The release of I, Robot is an important juncture in the life of the Fresh Prince. With time passing, his role as an action star may not have the longevity it once promised.

And Will is all too aware that the critical acclaim he previously sought in such fare as The Legend Of Bagger Vance and Six Degrees Of Separation will become the driving force in the second half of his career.

But even though I, Robot is being marketed strictly as an action thriller, don't be fooled - the comedy prince is insistent that the adaptation of Isaac Asimov's short stories is more than just bullets and one-liners.

Raptuous Applause

After gliding in to a packed news conference to raptuous applause, the 6'2" star was clearly buoyed by both the critical and box office success of his latest effort in the US.

"I'm confident in the film, and the powerful intellectual base that Asimov set forth in the shorts, and the great visionary future that the director Alex Proyas put together," he announced, with all the confidence of a Hollywood star on top of his game.

For Will I, Robot is the perfect marriage of critical and commercial success. Something he has strived for in the 12 years since his first big-screen outing.

"Generally, the type of films that I make are review-proof. The summer films at least," he explains.

"I don't think I've ever gotten a good review on a summer movie. Siskell and Ebert (famed US reviewers) actually gave Independence Day four thumbs down - the only movie in the history of Siskell and Ebert that got four thumbs down.

"So, from the beginning of my career, I'm used to that. But for Ali and Six Degrees...I desperately need you (the critics) to stop writing bad things about me!"

Doom For Mankind

I, Robot finds Will playing Detective Del Spooner, a cop convinced that household robots promise nothing but doom for mankind. In any other Will Smith movie, you'd expect him to be right. But in I, Robot, things aren't that clear-cut.

"I think the concept of the Asimov paradigm, with the three laws, is that essentially there is nothing wrong with the technology - the technology is fine, the robots are doing exactly what they have been programmed to do.

"The problem is man's arrogance in thinking that we can confine the universe to laws, when the universe cannot be confined to laws.

"The only thing that's gonna happen is that harsh adherence to logic and rejecting our intuition is only gonna leave us in a situation that we see in I, Robot.

"It's not specifically what we see happening with the robots, it's an indictment of human logic as much as an indictment of technology."

True Identity

Yet, despite his concise and articulate conversation and a masterful ability to control a crowd, Will struggles to conceal his true identity.

When asked why he insists on a running scene in almost every film, Will's child-like affinity to impress people with physical comedy overpowers his cool exterior.

"Running is very important to me; if you look at all my films, I run in all of them. I did a romantic comedy that's coming out in a few months, and I'm running in that film.

"It's important to look good running. I don't wanna be the old dude that gets that run thing going," he proclaims, going on to leap from his chair and run around the room as he impersonates an ageing action star, replete with a puffed-out lean against a wall.

"I don't wanna be that dude. So I'm gonna make action movies right up to that point."

If all of his subsequent movies give him as much of a spring in his step as I, Robot, he could be running for a long while yet.

Richard Phippen