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Will Smith makes friends in stop here NOVEMBER 19 2008- Actor Will Smith poses for a photo with fans while walking the red-carpet before the premiere of his new film "Seven Pounds." at the AMC Creve Coeur Wednesday night. By Joe Williams It was a publicity blitz Big Willie-style as rapper-turned-actor Will Smith met fans and the media at several stops in St. Louis Wednesday. Smith was in town to promote his new movie "Seven Pounds," a drama that opens nationwide on Dec. 19. In the half day before attending a red-carpet reception and preview screening before a throng at the AMC Creve Coeur 12 cinema, Smith visited patients at St. Louis Children's Hospital; spoke to assemblies at Jefferson Elementary and Central Visual and Performing Arts High School; and sat with reporters at the Four Seasons hotel and the Post-Dispatch. Smith, 40, said in an interview with the Post-Dispatch that the hastily arranged tour to Miami, Dallas, St. Louis, Cleveland and Denver was inspired by the results of the recent presidential election. He said he wanted to get reacquainted with the America that had surprised him with its openness to change in electing Barack Obama as the first African-American president. He added that the last time he had embarked on such a city-to-city campaign was in the late 1980s, when the Philadelphia native was a rapper known as the Fresh Prince. From 1990 to 1996, Smith starred in the sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." Since leaving television, Smith has become arguably the most popular movie star in the world, with a record eight consecutive movies earning more than $100 million at the box office, including the recent hits "I Am Legend" and "Hancock." In "Seven Pounds," Smith plays a mournful IRS agent who tries to atone for a mistake by improving the lives of seven strangers. In keeping with the message of the movie, Smith has incorporated philanthropy into each of the tour stops. On a makeshift stage in front of the theater Wednesday, Smith presented the St. Louis Area Foodbank with a giant "check" for 300 Thanksgiving turkeys from the Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation. Fans making food donations were entered into a drawing for tickets to the screening, which also was attended by rapper Chingy, former "Wizard of Oz" Munchkin Mickey Carroll, singer Nikko Smith and several members of the co-sponsoring St. Louis Rams. Before entering the theater, Smith encouraged the fans to reach out to the needy during tough economic times. Then he provided a vocal backbeat for them to rap the theme song to his old TV show. Among those in the audience was 21-year-old Summer Schmaltz of Creve Coeur, who had waited for more than five hours with a DVD of Smith's film "The Pursuit of Happyness." She said her previous brushes with fame included seeing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. John McCain on stops in Missouri during the presidential campaign. "But this is much cooler," she said. Her patience was rewarded with a hug from Smith. For more than half an hour, the Oscar-nominated star of "Ali" worked every corner of the crowd, autographing photos, magazines and even boxing gloves. Dozens of times he grabbed fans' cameras to include them with himself in a group portrait. "St. Louis has been fantastic to me," he said. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertain...00?OpenDocument

Will performing FPOBA in St. Louis! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAhMpWQPp5c :thumbsup:

WILL PERFORMING FPOBA! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAhMpWQPp5c :kool: :kool: :kool: :kool: :kool:

Premiere: Pics! http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Search.a...mp;src=standard http://www.daylife.com/topic/Will_Smith/photos/all/1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq1rSDhHMuE :thumbsup:

WILL PERFORMING SWITCH!!! Surprise! Will Smith comes to Central VPAHS! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq1rSDhHMuE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewj-P-Lxxfg :wickedwisdom: :wickedwisdom: :wickedwisdom: :wickedwisdom: :wickedwisdom:

Video: Will Smith Promotes Movie, Help St. Louis Area Food Bank KTVI - myFOXstl.com) -- Actor Will Smith is in town not only to promote is latest movie but also help some families have a good Thanksgiving. He’s asking for canned-good donations at his screening of “Seven Pounds” Wednesday night at AMC Theatre in Creve Coeur. Anyone who brings some canned goods to donate to the St. Louis Area Food Bank will be in a drawing to win tickets for tonight's screening. The ticket giveaway starts at 4 p.m. Celebrities will walk the red carpet at 5:30. http://www.myfoxstl.com/myfox/pages/News/D...mp;pageId=3.2.1

'7 Pounds' Red Carpet Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPb9RxFZpT8 Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtvbsLFqlA4

Operation Fresh Prince is in effect By Joe Williams Why yes, I did chat with Will Smith today. The erstwhile Fresh Prince of Bel Air, who has morphed into the most popular movie star on earth (and one of the more respected), came to the Post-Dispatch for an interview. Despite the bus, the entourage, the security team and the ruckus he caused in the newsroom, Smith was very personable, greeting everyone from the publisher of this newspaper to the homeless people on the sidewalk with the same graciousness. He and I talked about his upcoming film, “Seven Pounds,” a drama about a man making amends for some past mistakes. But the conversation quickly segued into a discussion about the nature of celebrity and the opportunities that Smith has to make the world a better place. While he was in St. Louis, he visited Children’s Hospital, and this evening (Wednesday) at 5:30 p.m. he will be at the Creve Coeur cinema, collecting items for the St. Louis Foodbank alongside Rams, Cardinals and other famous do-gooders. I’ll have more to say about his movie and the interview later; but for now I’ll simply attest that I found Smith to be one of the nicer celebrities I’ve met. Just by saying hi and making eye contact, he gives us little people a treat, and countless St. Louisans will have stories to tell about meeting him today. Sorta like when the Pope was in town–except Smith was smart enough to have his name plastered all over the Willmobile, so even the drivers on Highway 40 will know it was really him. http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/joes-movi...e-is-in-effect/

More videos... http://www.the33tv.com/pages/content_landi...&feedID=460

Hancock DVD trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyMHPJ7Q_Xg

More pictures here! http://www.dallasobserver.com/slideshow/view/190739 Video! http://www.myfoxdfw.com/myfox/pages/Home/D....1.1&sflg=1

Gettin' Jiggy with Holiday Giving at Will Smith's Dallas Premiere Will Smith pulls off the jersey and tie almost as heroically as Mayor Tom Leppert. Will Smith is all about good deeds these days, so if you wanted to catch the Dallas premiere of his new feel-good thriller Seven Pounds, you had to come with cans. Which was was cool with hundreds of fans, who began lining up outside the Cinemark 17 theaters before noon Tuesday, toting canned food donations for the North Texas Food Bank. The Fresh Prince (Big Willie, if you prefer) took to the stage a little after 7, announcing he’d contributed 300 turkeys to the cause. As great as that photo op could’ve been, Smith’s entourage for the night was strictly human. His grab bag of friends for the night included food bank director Jan Pruitt, City Council member Pauline Medrano and a Tom Hicks hospitality crew of Stars Sean Avery, Marty Turco and Brenden Morrow and Rangers third baseman Travis Metcalf. Smith planted a big kiss on Pruitt -- “That’s my tabloid shot,” he told the crowd as she backed off, embarrassed -- and even put on a Stars jersey over his shirt and tie (gotta think Mayor Tom’s just a little bit jealous). Then Smith got deep with the crowd, asking everyone out there -- the kids who skipped school to wait in line, the photo crews throwing elbows along the rope line, and the girls balanced high on metal barricades -- to find someone else in the crowd and think of a way to help them out. “Make someone’s life better,” Smith said. “I made a decision that I didn’t want to do anything, or be a part of anything, that doesn’t make the world a better place.” Couldn’t agree more. We’ll start by sending our commemorative set of Bagger Vance clubs to someone who really needs them. http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark...oliday_givi.php

I know what you mean, and I agree :thumbsup:

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyTV5s0tvzI

He is legend Will Smith makes the scene with fans Tuesday outside American Airlines Center. When the world's biggest movie star, Will Smith (a.k.a. Mr. Fourth of July and the $25 Million Man), drops by for a visit, how does he arrive? Why, in a bus plastered with his movie titles and a giant picture of him grinning on either side. Mr. Smith, in town for a Tuesday night red-carpet event promoting his new film, Seven Pounds, and benefiting the North Texas Food Bank (check out the video on GuideLive.com), stopped at The Dallas Morning News while making media rounds. "We're doing this in cities all around the country," he said. "Going out this way, I get to see all these places and people you don't see when you're stuck in a hotel room. Like, here I am at a big-city newspaper. It's a way of being in the world and staying connected." A flurry of handshakes, cheek kisses and cellphone pictures later, he and his gang of publicists, stylists, assistants and security got back on the bus and rumbled off. Mr. Smith also made a surprise visit to a Lake Highlands High School pep rally, with a certain Cowboy in tow. See the details on the Staff Blog at dallasnews.com/hsgametime. Tom Maurstad http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dw...n1.4a6dee2.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f4lQ-5Pus0

Video! (better quality) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkO8Xlb2wvU

Spielberg/Smith's Oldboy Gets A Writer Mark Protosevich to tackle remake We thought we might have been dreaming when we wrote last week that Steven Spielberg and Will Smith were teaming up for a remake of the ultra-violent, deeply twisted and utterly fantastic South Korean thriller Oldboy. It seems that we were wide awake, though, with today’s news that Mark Protosevich has entered early negotiations to adapt Park Chan-wook’s masterpiece, about a man who’s inexplicably imprisoned for fifteen years and seeks vengeance once he’s released, for an American audience. Good luck to him, for anyone who’s au fait with the source material will know that there’s some dark, envelope-pushing material in Chan-wook’s movie; the sort of material you’d normally expect the likes of Spielberg and Smith to avoid like the plague. But both men have shown a willingness in recent years to embrace less obviously commercial material, and their take on Oldboy will be nothing less than fascinating. Protosevich and Smith have history together – Protosevich co-wrote I Am Legend for the star – and that paid off when Smith apparently invited the writer to meet with Spielberg. The ‘Berg seems to have liked what the Poseidon writer had to say. Let’s hope it involved the words ‘hammer fight’ in there somewhere. It’s all still early days, though, and DreamWorks has not yet completed the purchase of the remake rights from Mandate Pictures, but with a writer, star and director on board, looks like we might be reunited with Oldboy sooner than we thought. http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=23705

Will Smith, Tony Romo light up Lake Highlands pep rally The screams were ear-splitting when movie star Will Smith and Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo entered the Lake Highlands gynasium for a surprise pep rally visit. The pep rally was for the school's state-bound volleyball team and bi-district champion football team, but Smith stopped by during his swing through Dallas promoting his new movie, "Seven Pounds." The star said it was his first visit to a high school in years. We're not sure why Romo was tagging along, but none of the stunned students were complaining. They were too busy screaming and snapping pictures. Smith and Romo had a little fun with the crowd while also delivering inspirational messages. Smith started out by asking Romo, "How's the pinkie?" to much laughter. Romo held up his hand to show he was fine. Then Smith told the students that when he first started on TV's "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," producer Quincy Jones gave him two words of advice: fearless and relentless. He said you have to be both to achieve your goals. Romo talked about the doubts that he, as an undrafted free agent, could even make the team, much less become starting quarterback of the Cowboys. He said what was keeping him from reaching his goals was him, not what other people were saying. Then the two celebrities had some fun. Romo played a game with the crowd, telling them to clap at the appropriate "hike!" after he called signals - just like he would at the line of scrimmage. Of course, just like some offensive linemen, each time a portion of the crowd woudl clap too soon. Smith mugged along as Romo barked out the signals. Then Smith did an impromptu beatbox jam, instructing the crowd to chant "Wildcats" at the appropriate time. Just before the duo left, Smith had one more message: "Every single day of your life, I want you to make somebody better." They left to a rousing ovation, as the marching band played one of Smith's R&B hits. Although the visit was supposed to be a surprise, word had leaked that Romo and someone else would be at the pep rally. As a group of women (probably football players' mothers) walked out of the gym, I overheard one of them say, "I thought it would be Tony and Jessica. This was even better!" http://highschoolsportsblog.dallasnews.com...lake-highl.html

Video: Will Smith & Tony Romo (Lake Highlands HS) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7IPAIf-fQQ

Will Smith, Tony Romo stop by Lake Highlands High Apparently, stop by The Dallas Morning News newsroom and be a guest on Good Morning Texas weren't the only bullet points on Will Smith's agenda during his trip through Dallas today. He also stopped by Lake Highlands High School, and J.J. Pair was there to greet the blue-sweater-wearing movie star. Oh yeah, and Tony Romo was there, too. I think this proves that Lake Highlands is the best community in the neighborsgo world hands down. Smith and Romo surprise LHHS students At 2 pm November 18th, Will Smith and Tony Romo showed up at Lake Highlands High School for a Pep Rally. In town promoting an upcoming film, the actor, famous for movies such as Men in Black, I, Robot, Hitch, The Pursuit of Happyness, I Am Legend and many others, and the Dallas Cowboys Quarterback were lending their support for the Football, Volleyball, Tennis and Cross Country teams, all District Champs. On Friday, the Lady Wildcats Volleyball team will face Austin Westlake in San Marcos and on Saturday, the Wildcats will come up against Tyler John Tyler in Corsicana. Mr. Smith, though conservatively dressed, belied his attire making it hard to tell that he wasn’t one of the many pumped up kids in the crowd. He offered inspiratioal advice to the kids: “Be fearless and relentless, and make somebodys life better everyday!” Go Cats! http://neighborsgo.com/stories/25879

Video: Will Smith on neighborsgo.com It's not every day that one of the biggest movie stars in the world pays a visit to The Dallas Morning News. Today was one of those days: http://www.neighborsgo.com/video/1433

For those who haven't heard this track before... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW1-N717Ttc

Will Smith headed for Denver Friday Consider it a cinematic bounty. Will Smith, the world's biggest movie star, is coming to Denver while across town the city's biggest film event, the 31st Starz Denver Film Festival, heads into its final weekend. Smith is scheduled to walk the red carpet Friday at the United Artist Colorado Center theater in support of his latest film "Seven Pounds" and, more important, the Food Bank of the Rockies and the Denver Rescue Mission. Smith plans to donate 300 turkeys to the organizations for the holiday season. People who bring non-perishable food items, starting at 4:30 p.m. Friday, have a chance at passes for a screening of the drama, which tells the story of an IRS agent determined to make amends by changing the lives of seven strangers. The red carpet presentation will begin at 5:30 p.m. and is open to the public. http://www.denverpost.com/entertainment/ci_11015125