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Will Smith during the 'Suicide Squad' press conference and media screening at the Mall of the Emirates, Dubai. Image Credit: Ahmed Aramzan/Gulf News

Dubai: The Suicide Squad hype reached a fever pitch on Sunday in Dubai thanks to the promotional efforts of lead actor Will Smith, who played antihero assassin Deadshot in the DC Comics film. Smith chatted with media at Vox Cinemas at Mall of the Emirates ahead of a red carpet screening of his film across town.

Dressed down in a cozy mustard sweater and black sneakers, the actor was in high spirits as he addressed the packed to capacity press conference. Though he's been on a round-the-world promotional tour, he showed no signs of wear and tear. And though he repeatedly made references to his age - Smith turns 48 next month - he didn't look a day over the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

 

 

What could have been a serious or dreary affair was instead jovial and intimate, as Smith greeted every reporter with his signature flair and looked them in the eyes as he answered. Later, he called Dubai one of his favourite cities along with Miami. "Maybe I should write a song about Dubai," he said.

Suicide Squad released across UAE cinemas on Thursday, after premiering in New York City. Directed by David Ayer, it boasts a number of familiar faces, including Viola Davis as ring-leader Amanda Waller, Jared Leto as the lovesick Joker, Margot Robbie as the volatile Harley Quinn and Cara Delevingne as the witchy antagonist Enchantress. The story kicks off when Waller rounds up a kooky crew of locked up supervillains who can do the government’s dirty work, just in case something – hypothetically speaking – were to go really wrong.

 

The film received aggressively negative reviews from critics, followed by a spattering of retaliatory support.

“I don’t respond to reviews,” Smith laughed on being asked about the critical badgering. “Suicide Squad is breaking box office records everywhere. It’s already been my biggest opening weekend and it’s on course to be the biggest film of my career. I’m excited about that.” 

 

 At time of writing, the film holds a 26 per cent approval rate on Rotten Tomatoes, a go-to website for aggregated film reviews. Suicide Squad scored lower than Ayer’s previous DC effort this year, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which currently holds a 27 per cent approval rating. According to the site’s ‘Tomatometer’, any film that scores below 59 per cent qualifies as ‘Rotten’.

Thousands of disgruntled DC fans started a petition last week for the website to be shut down, later clarifying that they only wanted to “deliver a message to the critics that there is a lot of people disagree with their reviews. [sic]” But the petition went live ahead of the film’s public release, meaning the fans hadn’t even seen it.

“At this point in my career, my mind is beyond critics or even box office success,” Smith said. “As an artist, I can’t allow myself to be consumed by that because it affects my decisions too much. 10 years ago, I was really consumed by being No 1. I really needed to be No 1. But if you’re trying to have box office success and win awards, it effects your artistic delivery. I want to get myself freedom as an artist to create the things that work for me. So I’m going to take shots and I’m not going to hit them all because I’m going to be really aggressive with creative things.

“Some of them will be critically acclaimed, some of them will make money and some of them will be Wild Wild West,” he added, referring to his flop 1999 Western action comedy.

He added that he would definitely do a Suicide Squad 2 if asked.
Smith explained why he took on his role as Deadshot whose character had the most compelling backstory, the funniest one-liners (barring a grossly sexist joke near the end) and the most to lose.

“When I was approached with the idea to be in a film that was in the world of Batman and Superman and Justice League, I was in,” he said. “It was much more about discovering about the parts of me that connect to the character. I discovered that bad guys don't think of themselves as bad guys. The question of what makes someone good, bad or evil is posed in this film. When is the point when you go from being bad to evil? We decided love was what would tether you back to humanity.

“These comic book movies are taking the world by storm now. What I love about the comic book genre is you get to have this exciting world, but you're really sneaking in ideas about life and ideas about humanity. What's really great with these characters [is that] these comic books go back to the 1950s. There's half a century of material that you go back and draw from.”

Singing praises of Dubai, Smith said he loves the city and would love to be “mine untapp stories from this region”.

“A big part of America and the impression of it in the 1940s and 50s was Hollywood. When I come to the Middle East and see the beauty and culture, it's not represented.”

Smith also talked about his showbiz family with wife Jada Pinkett-Smith, and equally famous children Willow and Jaden. 

“It's really strange when we take jobs because so much of the job environment comes back into the house. It's really strangely normal for us. What the conversations are and what we talk about. More than anything we talk about things were learning from our characters,” he said. 

He was also asked about the diversity crisis in Hollywood and the role influential people like him play to correct the wrongs. 

“No one can expect someone else to tell their story. Everyone wants to tell their own story,” Smith said. “It's not the responsibility of the establishment, but the holders of the truth to learn how to deliver it artistically in a way that's globally viable. 

“First and foremost, I consider myself to be a public servant. Part of what I do is try to create art that, however briefly, relieves suffering. I think it's my responsibility to make people laugh and cry and ultimately make [them] feel good. As a basic mission statement for myself, it's: improve life.

“In terms of discrimination, I think it's hugely important with this type of platform that I have to live a certain way. I remember we were in South Africa and Nelson Mandela told me, ‘Never forget to let people touch you when you go into crowds. Let people touch you. They have to know that your black skin won't hurt them.” 

 

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Image Credit: Gulf News
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