In an interview with Esquire, Will Smith reveals that After Earth, the 2013 box office bomb, in which he starred with his son Jaden, was the most “painful failure” of his thirty year career.
Even when pitted against other failed movies like 1999’s Wild Wild West, Smith said the disappointment of After Earth was tougher to swallow because his child was involved.
The 46-year-old actor said to Esquire:
That was excruciating.
What I learned from that failure is how you win. I got reinvigorated after the failure of ‘After Earth.’ I stopped working for a year and a half. Had to dive into why it was so important for me to have No. 1 movies.
The M. Night Shyamalan-directed flick was panned by critics as one of that year’s biggest bombs, bringing in $60.5 million — when it cost $130 million to make. It was also awarded three Razzies awards, including one for worst on screen combo.
All this happened during a particularly painful time in Smith’s personal life.
“‘After Earth’ comes out, I get the box office numbers on Monday and I was devastated for about 24 minutes, and then my phone rang and I found out my father had cancer,” he said. “That put it in perspective — viciously.”
Smith’s next movie, Focus, is set to open Feb. 27.