Will Smith: Renaissance MIB

He raps, he dances he kicks alien butt...again. Will Smith is still "Fresh" and seems to own this time of year. It's blockbuster time again and Will is back in black. He had a lot to say about working with pal Tommy Lee Jones, Michael Jackson's cameo performance in Men in Black II and the fact that he isn't letting his music career take the back burner for a minute.

TeenHollywood: Were you surprised about Michael Jackson wanting to be a part of this movie?

Will: Michael called after the first film. He said, 'look Will, I don't care what happens, if you ever make a Part Two of this film, I'm in this film'. Michael's a real movie buff. He said when he saw this it was the most creative thing he had ever seen. He couldn't compare it to any other films. It was different.

TeenHollywood: People are really getting a laugh out of seeing him.

Will: In the theater, people are just so shocked and laughing so much that they don't have a chance to listen to what he saying which is very funny too. He plays an alien, an undercover Man in Black. He's an alien so he only has partial MIB status. He's in on the alien affirmative action program. So he's there part time but he's demanding his full MIB status. He thinks he's put in enough of his time. When he comes on the screen people are really happy as if Michael is really saying to the world, 'all right. I'm human just like everybody else. I appreciate a good joke just like everyone else does'. But the thing I love so much is he kept wanting to play it serious.

TeenHollywood: Are you searching for more comedic or serious roles now?

Will: I'm searching for the number one answer, that film that does both; a film that is a crowd pleaser and garners some critical acclaim. It's rare to hit that mark. There are some films that do it and that's what I look for. But, more than anything I want to do different types of films. I enjoy being able to go from Ali to Men in Black II. The actors I admire most have that kind of range.

TeenHollywood: This is the first time you've come back to the same character in a film. Were there any second thoughts about that?

Will: I love having the franchise films. What a franchise film does is it lets you flop three or four [films] in the middle and you can go ahead back. You try your artistic pieces, you do three or four of them and then say, 'no, I was just playing you'. Here's Men in Black Three. I was joking.

TeenHollywood: Did you know this one was going to come off as well as it did?

Will: What we knew is that the film had to be funny and no matter what, we were not coming off of the set without the film being funny. There were characters that were established in the first film that got one or two laughs that we wanted to expand and, Frank the pug is, just hands down, hilarious. One of the biggest laughs in the entire film is "Who Let the Dogs Out". Frank's a wonderful actor. This little dog, for some reason, I don't know if it's how he looks or the actor's voice that does it but every single thing that comes out of his mouth is hilarious. We knew that on the set and that was something that we pushed for and we were like, 'listen, no ego about that. I want the scene to be funny no matter what and if it's the dog, the worms or anything that will make people laugh in that movie theater, that's what I want to do'.

TeenHollywood: How was it working with Tommy Lee Jones again?

Will: Tommy and I we have a really brilliant relationship. I just think that everything that comes out of that man's mouth is hilarious. We were in Korea doing this interview together. An interviewer asked what was it like working with Frank the pug. I said, 'Frank is a really wonderful actor. He has brilliant comedic timing. But sometimes he can be a bit of an asshole. He won't come out of his trailer'. Then with a completely straight face, Tommy says 'Yeah, Frank's had a bit of an identity crisis ever since the castration'. I was screaming but stuff like that comes out of his mouth every second of the day. I love that dude with all my heart.

TeenHollywood: You work so well as a duo. You've said things didn't really start on the film until he got there.

Will: There are a lot of weird things that put you in sync with a character or puts you in a moment and the second that Tommy Lee Jones came on the set, Agent Jay was created. I came out of Ali, I flew from Ghana to New York to start work on MIB II. I had two weeks by myself where I'm working with Frank the pug. The second that Tommy Lee Jones came on set is when I thought 'okay, now I know who Agent Jay is'. I felt so comfortable when he showed up that it just made something click in my mind about where I needed to be comedically and where I needed to be to recreate this character.

TeenHollywood: Your two characters are almost iconic.

Will: I think the first film was so revolutionary and so bizarre and different it just really sticks with people. That black suit with the white shirt and the black tie and the sunglasses just, throughout American cinema, that look works for whatever reason. It worked for The Blues Brothers. There's just something about the black suits with the sun glasses just screams American cool.

TeenHollywood: Any time for your music now?

Will: I've got a new album out. It's called "Born to Reign". If I can say it humbly, I think it is one of the best albums you're gonna hear this year. It may sound like I'm gassing it up right now but, as a fan of music, this album is..like [there are] no songs you're gonna skip on it.

TeenHollywood: Is it hard to customize a song to a film? ("Black Suits Comin': Nod ya Head")

Will: When you're starting from day one on a film it's not difficult because you know the vibe of the film, how it looks, how it feels. I was writing during the film when a scene inspires me to write something. What I was trying to do with "Black Suits Comin'" was to roll the creative dice, just do something that's different. I think that people can hate a record or hate a movie but as long as they respect the creative attempt, you give yourself life to try it again. If you do something you're supposed to be good at and it doesn't work, that's when you really shoot yourself in the foot. So I pushed the creative limits on that song and I pushed the creative limits on this album [Reign].

TeenHollywood: Isn't the new album a new sound for you?

Will: I used a 60 piece orchestra on that record. I just wanted to do something that you hadn't heard in a long time. People aren't making records with 40 piece string sections anymore, 12 piece horn sections. What I wanted to do was be able to make a record that, win, lose or draw was absolutely different sounding, feeling and somewhat revolutionary in its retro nature. There's one [song] with Luther Vandross with Jada and I and it's called "A Thousand Kisses" and what we did with that is there's none of the Luther lyrics in her verse so we took the vibe of it but did everything with 30 piece strings.

TeenHollywood: What are you listening to now?

Will: I've been traveling a lot so I've been listening to everything. We were in Mozambique shooting Ali and there's these Portuguese rappers. I've got about three CDs of these guys rappin' in Portuguese. It's crazy how people outside of the United States are open to expand and do other things and put any kind of sound on the record. The choices of drums and things they make..somebody will make something in their yard and use it on a record. It's a lot more musical and creative freedom around the world. I was trying to capture a little bit of the essence on my record.

TeenHollywood: You've been doing more dancing.

Will: My dancing is getting better as I get older. Something happened when I turned 28 years old, must have been a chiropractor or something, but for some reason all of a sudden coordination came into my life. I have no idea why. I never could play basketball ever. I turned 28 and that day I never missed another 15 foot jump shot. I started to be able to dance. I never would have been able to do Ali prior to being 28. For some reason, everything clicked in.

TeenHollywood: Were all those Men in Black in the music video your idea?

Will: Yeah. I wanted to do something that was different and fun and showed a show of strength and a hundred Men in Black walking down the street [was it]. But they were walking on the sidewalk and that just seemed too polite. I said 'get 'um in the street. I want 'um in the street'.

TeenHollywood: That 'human beat box' scene in the film is great.

Will: That is gonna be a scene that I'm gonna get credit for but it was actually Tommy Lee Jones's idea. I just be beat-boxing all the time and Tommy said 'Hey, Will, you know what would be cool? If you had that human beat mouth thing you do and put that in the movie as an alien language'. I said 'wow' and we were shooting the scene in like two days. It is so bizarre. So weird and truly in keeping with what made the first film successful, coming out of nowhere with something bizarre like that with no explanation.

TeenHollywood: What are you doing next?

Will: Martin (Lawrence) and I in Miami are doing Bad Boys II. We start shooting in the middle of August. The script is brilliant. Martin and I are ready to go. Michael Bay is back, Jerry Bruckheimer. Next summer, maybe I'll come back at you again on Big Willie Weekend. You know, it's July fourth. You've got a cookout, you light some firecrackers and you go see the new Will Smith movie. It's only American.