Collateral Beauty helped Will Smith cope with loss of his father

Will Smith describes his film Collateral Beauty as a “magical transition” that helped him deal with the loss of his father.
The Oscar-nominated actor stars in the upcoming drama as a successful advertising executive who loses his young daughter to a rare type of cancer. At the time of filming Will’s own father, Willard Carroll Smith, Sr., was suffering from cancer and although it was difficult, Will found the sad circumstances aided his performance.
“Having to face his impending death while working on the struggles of my character, it became a way that my father and I were able to connect wide open because in my mind, it was character preparation,” told news.com.au, describing the movie as “beautiful”.
“I wasn’t scared to ask him any questions, he was responding and we were able to talk about the difficulty and the pain and the fear and all of those elements around the idea of death, time and love. So it became this really magical transition.”
Willard passed away on 7 November (16), with the actor revealing his father called him on the night he died, and the pair FaceTimed.
In Collateral Beauty, Will’s alter ego Howard Inlet uses his bike as an outlet for his grief and anxiety, and in real life the Men in Black star also relies on a physical activity to ease his stress.
“I am a runner. I love running. And there’s nothing like it. And for me, I actually prefer the treadmill,” he explained. “I prefer the monotony of it for whatever reason. I feel like I get to spend more time with myself and I don’t get distracted and go, ‘Oh, that’s pretty!’
“So when I am on the treadmill, it’s a beautiful time with myself and it hasn’t failed me yet. I get real clarity right around that 8K mark.”
The movie, which also starring Keira Knightley, Helen Mirren and Edward Norton, hits cinemas later this month (Dec16).