A Regular Guy Takes On the Aliens

These are exhilarating times for Will Smith.

The 27-year-old actor not only won acclaim for his role in the 1993 Oscar-nominated film “Six Degrees of Separation” but also co-starred with Martin Lawrence in Columbia Pictures’ surprise 1995 hit “Bad Boys,” which was made on a modest budget but grossed $135 million worldwide.

“Independence Day” is Smith’s first film since “Bad Boys.” Next spring, he will star opposite Tommy Lee Jones in Columbia’s “Men in Black,” to be directed by Barry Sonnenfeld (“Get Shorty”), and then makes the sequel “Bad Boys II.”

“The thing that was great about ‘Bad Boys’ is that it was an inexpensive movie and there were no expectations,” Smith said. “That is so beautiful, because whatever you do is going to be fine.

“The significance of ‘Bad Boys’ to me was that two black stars were in a film that was treated like a big-time film [by Columbia]. Outside of Eddie Murphy and Whoopi Goldberg, you don’t see this level of attention given to too many films [with black actors].

“ ‘Bad Boys’ was an action movie, but a special effects film is at a whole other level,” Smith said. “It’s like, I’m flying an alien spacecraft. That is so much fun. All your dreams as a little boy watching ‘Star Wars’ and ‘E.T.’ You watch all those films and now you are making one.”

In 1986, Smith and Jeff Townes formed the group D.J. Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, going on to win a Grammy Award in 1988 for best rap performance. From there, he moved to television, starring in the sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” which is in its sixth season on NBC. To make “Independence Day,” Smith has had to divide his time between the film and his TV series.

“It’s hard,” he says. “I’m executive producer on the show this year. That adds three or four extra hours to the show each day. You spread yourself a little bit [thin], but when you can muster the energy to do it right, when you hit the wall, if you can still manage to push through and come out with good product, it’s worth expending all that energy.”

Apart from 1993’s “Six Degrees of Separation,” Smith’s movie credits include “Made in America” and “Where the Day Takes You.” But Smith says while growing up, he never dreamed of being a movie star.

“The only thing I ever, like, dreamed about was rapping,” he said. “I dreamed about being on stage in front of a big audience, being on tour with Run-DMC, you know?

“Right now, I think my goal is to do good work. Once you get past the point of thinking about money and whether you’ll pay your bills, from that point it’s more about self-esteem. I want to be excited about the work. It’s not really goals. When I look back on my career, I want to have a somewhat dazzling, eclectic portfolio.”

Smith said he was able to make the transition from TV to films largely because audiences perceive him as a “regular guy” in all his roles.

“I think because my character on television and my character in my records was just a regular guy, that makes the cross [to films] less difficult,” he said.

“You know, when I look at a spectacular cross, it’s like Robin Williams going from ‘Mork and Mindy’ to the character he played in the movie ‘Awakenings.’ That’s a cross. I don’t look at what I’ve done as that big. I’m just a regular guy. Bruce Willis is a great regular guy. You can see Bruce Willis doing anything because he’s just a regular guy.”

As he talks, Smith’s brother walks into the actor’s trailer on the set.

“This is my brother Harry,” he said. “He’s a regular guy.”