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Cleveland is stop on 5-city movie tour
By Rich Heldenfels
Beacon Journal popular culture writer
Published on Friday, Nov 21, 2008
Smith came to Northeast Ohio to promote his new movie, Seven Pounds. Opening Dec. 19, the movie stars Smith as a man who decides to help seven strangers after tragedy strikes his own life.
In keeping with that theme, Smith talked about helping others. And he used a red-carpet event and screening at Cinemark Valley View as a fundraiser for the Cleveland Food Bank. People were asked to bring nonperishable food items to the theater, and Smith himself donated 200 turkeys to the food bank.
The event included sundry proclamations, among them one making it Will Smith Day in Cleveland on Thursday. WKYC (Channel 3) anchor Romona Robinson took time off from the station's early-evening newscast to introduce Smith to the crowd. LeBron James was one of the local celebrities attending the screening, moving relatively quietly in Smith's wake — until Smith saw James and greeted him with a big smile and a hug.
Then there were the fans like Muriel Tillman of Akron, who came to the event with her daughter, Adana.
Muriel hoped Smith would autograph a sock doll whose protruding ears reminded her of Smith's. She did not get an autograph, but she and Adana did get a picture with Smith.
As he walked the red carpet, talking to local media representatives on one side and fans on the other, Smith often took fans' cameras, held them at arm's length and posed with them for the shot he snapped.
Some of the fans waited long hours for a chance to see him.
Gabby Taylor of Cleveland had arrived at 11:15 a.m. Thursday, though the event was not scheduled to begin until 4 p.m. and Smith was not expected until after 6.
Asked why, she said, ''It's Will Smith. He's beautiful.'' Pointing to a Seven Pounds poster with Smith's image in the middle, she added, ''Do I have to unroll that poster for you?''
But she and others also praised his intelligence, his movies and his good works.
All that made the trip through the snow bearable. Still, Smith himself was a bit surprised by the weather. While he grew up in sometimes-snowy Philadelphia, he has been softened somewhat by life in Hollywood.
''I've definitely been re-sensitized to cold,'' he said with a chuckle Thursday morning during a chat with reporters in the InterContinental Hotel in Cleveland.
He chose Cleveland as one of the stops on a five-city promotional tour in part because Smith has fond memories of playing there with DJ Jazzy Jeff when Smith was better known as the Fresh Prince.
But when he was looking at possible cities, Smith said, ''I didn't notice the 25 degrees.''
His voice was a bit raspy from visits to schools: ''We've been screaming with and over the kids.''
Another factor was the success his movies have had in Northeast Ohio, he said, and he wanted at least one location that was somewhat northeast, because of his Philly roots. Other cities on the tour were Miami, Dallas, St. Louis and Denver.
He also wanted to get back in touch with people.
On the day before the election of Barack Obama, he said, ''I was nervous. Wasn't certain at all that Barack could win. Then, when it was a landslide, I realized that I was out of touch. Like, I really didn't know what people were thinking and really didn't know what people were feeling.''
Smith said his three children were much more in tune with the mood of the people. ''I was crying,'' he said. ''They had no idea why it was such a big deal for me. Because it was a possibility for them. . . . I remember my 15-year-old [Trey, now 16] . . . was, like, 'Dude, relax.' ''
Smith's children are also as keen as Smith is about helping others. For his 16th birthday, Trey's friends brought gifts to take to children's hospitals.
''Our Christmas this year, our family is not doing internal giving,'' he said. ''All external. So we're giving to others, so in [wife] Jada's name, I'll give to a charity or something like that. And that's almost bubbling from the kids. It's not like something that we have to say to them.''
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal and in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://heldenfels.ohio.com. He can be reached at 330-996-3582 and rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
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akron, oh
Posted 10:03 AM, 11/21/2008
Will Smith has always been a smart, seemingly decent guy. He seems too smart to be involved with Scientology. I wonder if that is wrapped up in his Cleveland visit?
Akron, OH
Posted 12:15 PM, 11/21/2008
Scientology is notorious for many things, among them the recruitment of actors who want to "cure" their homosexuality or bisexuality. Many of their famous adherents have been plagued by allegations along these lines.
I will just leave it at that. Will Smith is a great talent, and his wife is a hot little thing.
