Actor Will Smith has already enjoyed massive success in the film and music business, so will he consider jumping into politics as his next act?
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the “Independence Day” star hinted that a run for office is not out the question for him.
“I’m a climber, so if I see a mountain, I have to climb it. I’m not a camper; I don’t like hanging in one place too long,” Smith told the publication. “So I think, at this point, I’m elevating my ability to be useful in the world. I think that that’s what my grandmother always hoped, that I would make myself useful to people in this lifetime.”
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“As I look at the political landscape, I think that there might be a future out there for me. They might need me out there. This is the first year that I’ve been incensed to a level that I can’t sleep, you know? So I’m feeling that at some point, in the near future, I will have to lend my voice to the conversation in a somewhat different way,” he added.
In the same interview, Smith made headlines for arguing that racism is “rare” but “everybody is prejudiced.”
Although the actor has never been particularly politically active or appeared in many films that have touched on electoral themes, he has long been a favorite to play Barack Obama should his story make it to the silver screen. First lady Michelle Obama has said that she’d like see Smith play her husband.
“Will Smith or Denzel Washington might be able to pull it off. Will’s got those ears, though, which might give him an edge,” she told PopSugar in 2012.
Smith has joked in the past that Obama “stole” his idea of becoming the first black president. “Barack can go first and then I’ll take my turn,” he quipped in an interview with The Daily Mail in 2007.
His latest film, which portrays Dr. Bennet Omalu’s efforts to bring attention to brain trauma in NFL players, hits theaters on Christmas Day. Meanwhile Smith’s popular “Men In Black” franchise is moving on, most likely without him, to more female-friendly territory.
Adam Howard