Will Smith Says 'After Earth' Is 'Most Painful Failure' Of His Career, Explains Why He Longer Uses Method Acting

There are few guarantees at the movies as well as life itself, but for three decades Hollywood had a reliable superstar in Will Smith. He could deliver blockbuster movies to huge opening weekends and he could drive smaller dramas to awards season attention and financial success. But two years ago, M. Night Shyamalan's "After Earth" changed all that. The sci-fi flick was trashed by critics, opened at a relatively disappointing number three at box office and proved to be a wake-up call for Smith.

"That was the most painful failure in my career," he told Esquire. "Wild Wild West" was less painful than "After Earth," because my son was involved in 'After Earth' and I led him into it. That was excruciating. What I learned from that failure is how you win. I got reinvigorated after the failure of 'After Earth.' I stopped working for a year and a half. I had to dive into why it was so important for me to have number-one movies. And I...