Will Smith interview "Pursuit of happyness.

Kam williams interviewing Will Smith...

Kam Williams: What interested you in this movie?

Will Smith: I saw the 20-20 piece [on ABC-TV ] on Chris' life, and the power of the story blew me away. There was a look in his eyes, a confidence and a strength after having traveled that journey. He personified the American Dream. It felt to me that the reason that America has been successful in this world is based on the idea that Chris Gardner is possible.

Kam Williams: How was it working opposite your son, Jaden, as your co-star?

Will Smith: Part of being an actor is almost self-hypnosis during those brief moments when the cameras are rolling. You want to actually believe you're Chris Gardner or Muhammad Ali. And having my son, and being able to lay in a subway bathroom, with my real son, just added to the ability to be able to transform and to become Chris Gardner for those moments

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Kam Williams: How would describe the prevailing theme of The Pursuit of Happyness?

Will Smith: It is a mythological story of what a man is supposed to be able to endure and to 

accomplish. That connection of the transferal of manhood from a man to a boy is the center of life. The film represents the greatest dream and the greatest hope that a man has for his ability to be and his ability to accomplish.

Kam Williams: And it's about fathering too, right?

Will Smith: The desire to be a good father is really innate. There aren’t a lot of movies that depict that relationship because men, we have to pretend that we're not that emotional about it.

Kam Williams: Did you collaborate with Chris Gardner on how you were going to portray him?

Will Smith: It's been very helpful to me to work with the actual people that the story is about. Like, having Ali on the set of Ali was just perfection, because you could play a scene, and if it didn't feel right, you could ask, ’How was that champ?’ And it was the same thing with Chris Gardner. Chris was there every single day. And the point was to capture the essence of his experience. We had to crunch essentially ten years of his life into two hours. And who better than Chris Gardner to assist with capturing the essence of what the experience was and the truth of his journey?