Will smith is one of our generation’s most influential and famous celebrities. Smith made his name in the Hollywood industry very fast with his handsome roles in many well-known blockbuster movies. Even before he arrived in the acting business, he was very well known as the young singer who took over the industry.
Will Smith later turned his attention to the Hollywood industry after achieving almost everything in his music career and was also highly respected till his fiasco at the 94th Academy Awards. In his career, he always aimed high, and after he appeared in Hollywood, he set his target on big-time actor Tom Cruise after getting motivated by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Advice to Will Smith
Will Smith was very young when he received fame and money from the industry and it was Arnold Schwarzenegger who guided him and advised him to be a better actor and a media personality. Though it was only a piece of advice from Schwarzenegger’s side, Smith took it quite seriously as it turned out to be an obsession for him to beat the actors that were very well off in the industry.
Arnold Schwarzenegger offered every bit of advice to Will Smith and in turn, Smith left no stone unturned and no effort wasted to become the celebrity that he is now. It was revealed that The Terminator actor had once said to Smith that he can never be a renowned movie star if he is not known worldwide.
“You are not a movie star if your movies are only successful in America. You are not a movie star until every person in every country on earth knows who you are. You have to travel the globe, shake every hand, kiss every baby. Think of yourself as a politician running for Biggest Movie Star in the World.”
It was meant to be a motivational talk between the two actors but for Will Smith, it turned out to be much more as he took it quite seriously and aimed at the popular stars in the industry. His obsession soon took over him as he set Tom Cruise as his target and did his best to overcome him.
Will Smith Aimed to Surpass Tom Cruise With His Music
Tom Cruise is undeniably one of the best actors of all time, with his vast variety of roles and mainly his most famous portrayal of Ethan Hunt from the Mission: Impossible franchise. And to beat Cruise in terms of global popularity, as he was already many steps ahead of Smith at that time, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air actor had devised that the only way to overcome him would be his upper hand in the music industry.
“Tom couldn’t do that — neither could Arnold, Bruce, or Sly, I’d found my way out of the entertainment news segment and into headline news. And once your movie moves from entertainment to news, it’s no longer a movie — it’s a cultural phenomenon”
Will Smith in an interview said that he had noticed how all the high-end actors did quality promotion for their movies and Tom Cruise was also one of them.
“I started quietly monitoring all of Tom’s global promotional activities […] and I vowed to do two hours more than whatever he did in every country.”
After Smith pulled this calculated stunt, for quite some time he was indeed getting more responses than he was getting earlier, but it was not a permanent solution as at the end of the day Will Smith couldn’t really catch up to Tom Cruise. Currently, Will Smith has an estimated net worth of around $350 million, still nowhere close to Tom Cruise’s unreal $620 million, as he is one of the most successful and richest actors in Hollywood.
Source: The Things
