Will Smith: I may be forced to run for president
Could actor-rapper-producer Will Smith one day add "politician" to his multiple hyphenates? Don't rule it out, he tells correspondent Tracy Smith, in an interview to be broadcast on "Sunday Morning."
Smith, who stars in the new film "Concussion," says he has more to offer than being an actor or musician. That may emerge in the form of politics, he says, due to the contentious discourse in the current presidential race.
"If people keep saying all the crazy kinds of stuff they've been saying on the news lately about walls and Muslims, they're going to force me into the political arena," he said.
And he's not talking mayor or governor. Indeed, he would aim for the top spot. "I mean, I gotta be the President. Come on!" Smith says, adding, "What else would I run for?"
Smith, who has won four Grammy Awards for his work as a rapper and been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Actor (for "Ali" and "The Pursuit of Happyness"), was just nominated for a Golden Globe for his work in "Concussion," a fact-based film on the life of the doctor who identified brain damage in former NFL football players.
Even though the star of "Independence Day" and the "Men in Black" franchise is already one of the biggest and most bankable names in Hollywood, Smith says he still has much to achieve.
"I tell my kids, 'Be as unrealistic as possible, and then figure out how to make it real," he said. "The best things that have ever happened, ever, were unrealistic before they happened. So for me, I think being the biggest movie star in the world as a goal actually was too small!"
Four years ago, Smith said he realized he'd reached his goal, but was left thinking, "What else am I going to do?"
"I realized that the dream was too small," Smith said. "I realized that there was no way that I was put here just to be a movie star."
Tracy Smith's interview with Will Smith will air on "Sunday Morning" on December 13.
The Emmy Award-winning "Sunday Morning," hosted by Charles Osgood, is broadcast Sundays beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET on the CBS Television Network. Rand Morrison is the executive producer.