Will Smith, who has plenty of experience raising talented kids, has found himself some young queens.
Read part of the ace interview below, or watch the full video above.
WILL SMITH:No!
Demi Singleton as Serena Williams, Saniyya Sidney as Venus Williams, and Will Smith as Richard Williams in ‘King Richard.'.Chiabella James/Warner Bros.
I’m a movie star, I have to keep a persona.
SANIYYA SIDNEY:Oh my goodness.
Okay, so who was your favorite costar in the movie?
Ryan Pfluger for EW
And don’t say Jon [Bernthal].
SINGLETON:It better be me.
SMITH:You know what the most fun for me was?
Those times in the bus with five daughters.
Girls are really different than boys.
One of the things I noticed with girls is everything was complimentary and added to things going on.
Whereas with boys, somebody hits somebody in the head with something.
SINGLETON:Why did you decide to take this role?
SMITH:I love stories where you think you know.
You pull the veil back when people didn’t know there was a veil.
Richard Williams was wildly misunderstood.
I enjoyed being able to humanize a figure that had been somewhat demonized in the sport.
He’s actually a genius.
Think about how wild that is.
SINGLETON:We know that you’ve done real-life stories before.
SMITH:Ali,Pursuit of Happyness,Concussion.
You guys now know, it’s really scary when you play a person.
SIDNEY:Especially if they’re still living.
SINGLETON:So how do you approach those roles differently?
SMITH:Because of COVID, I wasn’t able to spend a lot of time with Richard.
So, it’s tons of tape, interviews, he wrote a book.
I’m always trying to find what is most like me.
The thing that I connected to with Richard was the sense that nobody believed in him.
That’s where I started to build out what makes him tick.
SINGLETON:Wow, you have very impactful answers.
SMITH:Well, I be trying to say some stuff that’ll last, you know?
SIDNEY:You’ve been doing this for a long time.
SMITH:Over 30 years in the business.
You weren’t even born.
SIDNEY:You’re an OG in my eyes.
SMITH:I’m an OG!
SIDNEY:What advice would you give us [for] our careers?
You know how to put your head down [and] work through adversity.
Be conscious of the people you are interacting with you’re going to see them over and over again.
They’re going to carry the energy with them of how you treat them.
And there’s going to be lean years.
And one day you’re going to be out there withWildWild West.
King Richardpremieres Nov. 19 in theaters and on HBO Max.
To read more onKing Richard,order the December issueofEntertainment Weeklyor find it on newsstands Nov. 12.
