‘Collateral Beauty’ Star Will Smith Connects ‘Love, Time, Death’ [Video]

Fresh off of his Suicide Squad role, Will Smith is again appearing on the big screen, and while Collateral Beauty certainly has elements of the fantastical, the drama is a bit more straight-laced than the majority of comic book adaptations currently ruling the box offices. For Collateral Beauty, Smith plays a despondent, distraught man whose life takes a strange course, when Love, Time, and Death appear as entities to give a personal response to Will Smith’s Howard Inlet. Very little else has been learned about the story, so curiosity seekers will have to rely on Smith’s ambiguous statements and, of course, on the Collateral Beauty trailer itself to glean more about this David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada) drama.

Collateral Beauty Teases “We’re Here To Connect”

The mystifying teases thus far revealed in regard to Collateral Beauty has left many wondering what the film is really about, and while this may be no more revealing, the Hollywood Reporter offers up the trailer’s overriding theme as an answer to that question. Voiced by Will Smith as a narrator for the teaser, the quote sets a tone for Collateral Beauty that promises to deliver a fantastical journey, as well as an emotional and thought-provoking drama.

“We’re here to connect,” narrates Will Smith in the teaser for Collateral Beauty.“Love, time, death. These three things connect every single human being on Earth. We long for love, we wish we had more time and we fear death.”

In the Collateral Beauty trailer, we learn that an unspecified tragic event sends Howard Inlet’s life spinning out of control. Unable to cope with the sudden changes in his life, Howard finds himself writing letters to Love (Keira Knightley), Time (Jacob Latimore), and Death (Helen Mirren), but is wholly unprepared when the entities show up in person to answer his inquiries.

Collateral Beauty was written by Allan Loeb (Just Go with It, The Switch)and also stars Kate Winslet, Edward Norton, Michael Pena, and Naomie Harris.

Collateral Beauty Star Will Smith Reveals As Little As He Can

In speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Will Smith describes his latest film as a melding of The Wizard of Oz and It’s a Wonderful Life, but admits he can say little else of the plot. Smith says that the film essentially tells the story of Howard’s attempt to put his life back together, but adds that “mystical elements” to the film will make it difficult to promote Collateral Beauty.

While Smith can’t allow himself to speak openly about the film’s plot, he isn’t shy when it comes to talking about what it has been like to work with such immense talents as Helen Mirren and Kate Winslet, just to name two of a long list.

“It’s like a small-movie superhero cast: The Avengers of a Christmas dramedy! Coming to set and having every scene be with that level of actor? I love the test and artistic demand,” says Smith. “I loved being pushed every day and watching how other people work. I mean…Helen Mirren is ridiculous.”

Collateral Beauty was filmed far from the Hollywood lights, and Will says filming in New York City gave the story an extra flavor that might not have been captured elsewhere. Mr. Smith says he loves working in New York, because of the familiar feeling of community that it lends to any film. He adds, however, that film producers need to tread carefully when taking over the Big Apple’s neighborhoods.

“You just have to be careful about blocking streets,” Collateral Beauty‘s Will Smith says, laughing. “That does not go over well with New Yorkers.”

Collateral Beauty hits theaters on December 16.

[Image via New Line Cinema]