Okay, so the best thing about this interview with the messiers Smith — like, our absolute most favoritest thing in the world, forever — is the way that Will Smith just glows with pride while Jaden fields questions about the experience of making "After Earth". (The two of them star in it together as a pair of ninja spacemen explorers, and it's just too freakin' adorable how excited Will obviously is to pass his action-hero mantle along to his charming and talented son.)
But the second-best thing is the part where Jaden talks all about how hard he worked to get in peak shape for the movie's running/jumping/prehistoric-beast-fighting sequences, in which he figures heavily.
"It was four months of training," he explained. "I did rock climbing, swimming, running, parkour — and I had to do staff training, to learn how to wield the cutlass."
(For everything you ever wanted to know about cutlasses but were afraid to ask, the official "After Earth" website contains plentiful information and photos of Jaden's exemplary wielding technique.)
And while a lot of actors will talk about their films in terms of personal growth, the young star of this one has a different angle on it than most.
"I grew so much doing this movie," he said — and he's not talking about finding himself or gaining maturity, either. Nope! He literally grew. As in: "I gained 20 pounds and got 4 inches taller."
Wow. Such are the benefits of cutlass-wielding, we guess.
Are you psyched to see Jaden following in his dad's footsteps as the action hero of "After Earth"?
