Spending half an hour in the effervescent company of Will Smith is enough to brighten even the gloomiest of souls, yet the Hollywood superstar insists his joyous persona is not merely a façade for public consumption.
His angry slap of an over-amorous reporter in Moscow may have been the headline-grabbing moment of his recent publicity blitz to promote the Men in Black III movie, yet Smith is not worthy of a drop of negative publicity after a career that has barely featured a dip since he shot to fame a little over two decades ago in the TV series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Not many actors move from the small screen to be a part of big-screen movies that have grossed nearly Dh28 billion around the world, yet that is the legacy of his smash-hit blockbusters such as Independence Day, Ali and I Am Legend.
Despite his stunning success, Smith has always retained a glowing, warm charm and it was in evidence once again as we caught up with him to chat about the third instalment of his alien-repelling Men in Black franchise.
What inspired you to return to Men in Black a decade after the last movie?
I haven't worked in three years, so I was comfortable putting on some shoes that I knew would fit. We waited a long time to make this movie because we didn't want to just make something that would be successful and make lots of money. We wanted a good script and something to take the story forward and we have that in the third instalment.
The introduction of Josh Brolin changes the landscape of MIB III. Tell us what he brings to the story?
We travel back in time in this movie and that's where Josh's character comes in as a younger version of the Tommy Lee Jones character. We didn't know if Josh could pull it off, but he got a standing ovation on the first day of filming and from that point on, we knew we were making a great movie. He is just amazing. People cannot believe it is not Tommy Lee doing his voice because he turns in a special performance.
This is your first movie in 3D. Did you have any concerns about seeing yourself in that format?
Yeah man, my fear was I'd turn up to watch this movie, put the glasses on and my ears would come so far out of the screen that people would run scared from the theatre. Thankfully that didn't happen and the director Barry Sonnenfeld has done a great job with the 3D in this movie. It would have been easy to have aliens jumping out of the screen at you, but instead he used the technology in a really cool way.
Do you have any concerns about making a sequel and doing some damage to the image of a successful franchise such as Men in Black?
That's always the danger. People say you have made a movie to cash in on the success of the previous one, but this isn't the story behind Men in Black III. The magic of this series is that each is a stand-alone great movie, not a sequel to something that was better the time before. I will only do a sequel if it's great and in my opinion, this is great.
There are rumours you may play Barack Obama in a biopic of the US president one day. Is it true?
Yeah there has been some talk about an Obama movie and I think the only reason I'd get the role is because Barack and I share an ear issue. His are nearly as pronounced as mine, so I would have to be the man for the job. It's certainly something I'd consider, but we don't have a story completed yet. When Barack is finished writing his story, we will look to try to do something with it one day.
How do you always seem to be so happy, Will?
What the hell do I have to be miserable about? I have so much fun in life, I'm a lucky guy. I'm currently working on a movie with my son Jaden, my daughter Willow is going be in the movie version of Annie, so these are happy times in the Smith family. Every day feels like a holiday to me, man.
Of all the roles you have played in your career, which one are you asked about more than any other?
Well, that's easy as it was my first one, Fresh Prince. That show is syndicated around the world and it is a gift to me. It gave me my chance to have a career in this industry. My son Jaden just doesn't know how I didn't get laughed at for the clothes I wore in that show, but times change.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The specs: 2017 Porsche 718 Cayman
Price, base / as tested Dh222,500 / Dh296,870
Engine 2.0L, flat four-cylinder
Transmission Seven-speed PDK
Power 300hp @ 6,500rpm
Torque 380hp @ 1,950rpm
Fuel economy, combined 6.9L / 100km
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
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The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup – Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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Hili 2: Unesco World Heritage site
The site is part of the Hili archaeological park in Al Ain. Excavations there have proved the existence of the earliest known agricultural communities in modern-day UAE. Some date to the Bronze Age but Hili 2 is an Iron Age site. The Iron Age witnessed the development of the falaj, a network of channels that funnelled water from natural springs in the area. Wells allowed settlements to be established, but falaj meant they could grow and thrive. Unesco, the UN's cultural body, awarded Al Ain's sites - including Hili 2 - world heritage status in 2011. Now the most recent dig at the site has revealed even more about the skilled people that lived and worked there.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
How to report a beggar
Abu Dhabi – Call 999 or 8002626 (Aman Service)
Dubai – Call 800243
Sharjah – Call 065632222
Ras Al Khaimah - Call 072053372
Ajman – Call 067401616
Umm Al Quwain – Call 999
Fujairah - Call 092051100 or 092224411