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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Christopher Farley

Aired July 07, 2002 - 11:49   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, movie star, rapper, father, Will Smith. He's all of that and he's born to reign as his new CD suggests. Well helping us figure out this guy is Chris Farley. He's a Senior Editor with "TIME" magazine and he joins us from New York. Well what it is about Will Smith that makes him tick? Who would have thought that this Grammy award-winning rapper would become such a blockbuster movie hit?

CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY, TIME MAGAZINE: Well, there really have been two Will Smith's over the years. I mean originally there was the "Fresh Prince" and he's the guy that really helped export rap from urban centers to suburbs and people back in the '80s were sort of afraid of rap. They didn't know what rap was about and he really showed this can be a friendly art form. It can be safe with fine washables. Everyone can enjoy it. It can fit in sitcoms.

And then when Will Smith sort of changed his name in the public and just gone by Will Smith, he managed to take that persona into the movies, into the big screen. He showed that he could headline big movies like "Independence Day," like "Enemy of the State," and he really showed that hip hop could translate on the big screen too, so much so that people sort of forget he's a rapper and when people see him in movies like "Men in Black," they don't think Will Smith the rapper. They think Will Smith the movie star.

WHITFIELD: Right, and so it's something about his versatility that has allowed him to appeal to so many people of all walks of life.

FARLEY: Well I think from the get-go, he was someone in movies who decided he was going to take some chances. He was going to show Hollywood he wasn't just about doing hip hop kind of roles. He was about doing really actorly roles.

You know when he took a role in "Six Degrees to Separation," playing a gay hustler, a lot of people wouldn't expect a rap star to do, but he did it. He showed that he could pull it off. He showed he could take over those dramatic roles, and pretty soon leading man roles came along after that, and headlining roles and really big Hollywood blockbusters -

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: And really did a good job at it. FARLEY: He's doing a good job at it. He's the kind of guy that can generate $100 million movies. When he's at the top of it, people want to go see Will Smith movies, and he's someone who a lot of Hollywood stars are good at one kind of thing. They're good at actions movies. They're good at comedies.

If you think of Adam Sandler, you really can't picture him in a big action vehicle, but Will Smith is good at all kinds of things. He can do the action. He can do the comedy. He can do the drama like in "Ali" and he can get Oscar nominations for it.

WHITFIELD: Wow, so when making that transition from music to movies, who was the risk taker? Was it him who was the risk taker on Hollywood or was it Hollywood taking the risk out on him?

FARLEY: Well, sort of both ways, but I think he was taking a big risk because it's tough to maintain both careers at once. Only a very few people can do it. You think of Bob Dylan back in the early days. He tried to make the transition to movies. It didn't quite work out for him. We all know what happened to Mariah Carey when she tried to make the transition to movies. It was a disaster for her.

But Will Smith has managed to maintain both of those careers. I think his rap career suffered a little bit. His last album debuted in the Top 20 but it wasn't like a number one album yet. We'll see how that does over time for it to rain. But it's difficult to do both because it takes so much time to maintain an "A" level performance in the movies and in music.

WHITFIELD: So, he's really living the dream in the entertainment industry. He doesn't have to look for the roles. It seems like the roles just come to him.

FARLEY: Well yes, I think that he, I think for any actor in Hollywood, particularly a Black actor, I think he does have to go out there and make sure he gets the roles that he wants, develop projects that work out well for him. I think there are a lot of people out there would like to see him do sort of more romantic roles, do more dramatic roles, stretch himself out in that way.

"Ali" was not a huge performer at the box office. It did get him an Oscar nomination but it wasn't as big at the box office as I think a lot of people might have expected and would have hoped. So I think that he's still looking for that mixture of critical acclaim and box office. He's done it in separate vehicles. We'll see whether he can combine it into a single vehicle in the future.

WHITFIELD: All right, Christopher John Farley, senior editor of "TIME" magazine, thank you very much.

FARLEY: Thank you for having me, appreciate it.

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