Two-time Academy Award® nominee Will Smith has enjoyed unprecedented success in a career encompassing films, television, and multi-platinum records. For his memorable portrayal of Muhammad Ali in Michael Mann’s “Ali”, he received his first Oscar nomination. That was followed by his second nomination, for his performance in the true-life drama “The Pursuit of Happyness.”

Smith’s extraordinary list of blockbusters includes the most recent “Men In Black 3,” “I Am Legend” and “Hancock.” He also thrilled audiences in such huge hits as “I, Robot,” “Independence Day,” “Men in Black” and “Men in Black II.”

Now, Smith stars as Cypher, a legendary general whose legacy his young, rebellious son is determined to emulate, in Columbia Pictures' futuristic action-thriller, “After Earth.”

In the film, a crash landing leaves teenager Kitai Raige (Jaden Smith) and his legendary father Cypher stranded on Earth, 1,000 years after cataclysmic events forced humanity’s escape. With Cypher critically injured, Kitai must embark on a perilous journey to signal for help, facing uncharted terrain, evolved animal species that now rule the planet, and an unstoppable alien creature that escaped during the crash. Father and son must learn to work together and trust one another if they want any chance of returning home.

“What I thought was really interesting about this film was that it’s huge in scope, but it comes down to a simple idea that every person in the audience can relate to: it’s a father and son story,” says Will Smith. “I think that’s what audiences will really connect with – seeing the father try to connect with the son, to teach him, with life-or-death consequences.”

The lesson the father must teach his son is to conquer his fear. “Every parent knows when his or her child is lying to them because they’re scared of something,” says Will Smith. “And every parent has a different way of dealing with that. In `After Earth,' we have a father trying to command and control his son from a distance, but at the end of the day, once your child goes out of the house, you’ve taught them all you can – they have to learn the rest on their own. For me, in this movie, the extreme landscape makes these parent-and-child relationships huge, life-threatening.”

“That’s what we really responded to about this story,” says producer Caleeb Pinkett. “It’s exciting – set a thousand years in the future – but the real thing we responded to was that emotional core, the universal idea.”

The father also has to learn to trust the son. “That’s hard for Cypher, but it’s something we all have to do as parents – our children succeed or fail on their own, and all we can do as parents is watch,” says Will Smith. “It’s very much a coming-of-age story for both parent and child.”

Opening across the Philippines on June 5, “After Earth” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visithttp://www.columbiapictures.com.ph for trailers, exclusive content and free downloads. Like us at www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and join our fan contests.

Columbia Pictures’ “After Earth,” the new futuristic thriller starring Will Smith and Jaden Smith, examines the themes of courage and fear in telling an astounding story of survival. “I’m fascinated by the question of why human beings fear the unknown,” says writer-director M. Night Shyamalan.

In the film, a crash landing leaves teenager Kitai Raige (Jaden Smith) and his legendary father Cypher (Will Smith) stranded on Earth, 1,000 years after cataclysmic events forced humanity’s escape. With Cypher critically injured, Kitai must embark on a perilous journey to signal for help, facing uncharted terrain, evolved animal species that now rule the planet, and an unstoppable alien creature that escaped during the crash. Father and son must learn to work together and trust one another if they want any chance of returning home.

“In our earliest days as cave-people, fear of the unknown was really important – fear could keep us safe. Fear could keep you alive,” explains Shyamalan. “ But now, we’ll fear a new job or a new relationship, because we don’t know what’s going to happen – and that’s not necessarily a good thing. Playing with that in a movie is a fun thing, and in this movie, it’s about a father teaching a son how to overcome that. It’s a wonderful lesson, because if you can learn how to control your fear of the unknown, you can do anything.”

The concept of fear is expressed literally, as the alien planet has bred a dangerous species – the Ursa – that can sense humans’ fear and use that to track and kill its prey. The only way to kill the beasts is not to fear them, as Shyamalan explains. “It becomes very metaphorical,” says Shyamalan. “In the movie, we have a young man whose fear is chasing him – and when he can overcome his fear, he becomes invisible to the Ursa. The Ursa can be in the same room, but it’s no threat because it cannot sense his fear.”

After writing the story for “After Earth,” Will Smith – also a producer of the film – would turn over the screenwriting reins to Gary Whitta and Shyamalan. Smith called Shyamalan on the latter’s birthday, and Shyamalan told Smith how great Jaden Smith was in “The Karate Kid.” Will Smith said, “Well, we do have a movie idea in the works…” and they took off from there.

“Night is a master of building suspense and fear,” Will Smith says, explaining why Shyamalan was the perfect choice for “After Earth." “If there were a single thing that I would say is clearly Night’s genius, it’s how to take a single, still image and terrify you with it. There can be no movement – nothing happening, really – and still, you’re riveted. He is so good at setting the shot, setting the lighting, and setting the moment.”

“Night puts everything into the movie,” says Jaden Smith, noting that Shyamalan’s style of direction is, often, sleight of hand: “He’ll get you caught up in the story – you’ll be invested in the relationship between this father and his son – and then – bam! Something pops up. I love the way he shoots – the long shots, not too many cuts, capturing the emotion of the scene without saying what’s really going on, and leaving you in the audience time to wonder.”

Opening across the Philippines on June 5, “After Earth” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit http://www.columbiapictures.com.ph for trailers, exclusive content and free downloads. Like us at www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and join our fan contests.

Jaden Smith (“The Karate Kid”) stars opposite his father, Will Smith, in Columbia Pictures' new, futuristic action-thriller “After Earth.” He plays Kitai Raige, a young man forced to navigate the harsh terrain left behind when his spacecraft crashes on Earth, now an inhospitable, forbidden planet.

The film begins more than one thousand years in the future – in fact, one thousand years after humanity was forced to abandon the only home they had ever known. “Earth just gave up on humans,” says Jaden Smith. “Tsunamis, toxic air, toxic water, toxic food, extreme weather – it was like Earth said, ‘You have to get off of me,’ and that’s what humans did.”

Their new home would be the planet Nova Prime, and Nova Prime would know no greater family than the Raiges. Kitai’s father, Cypher Raige – played by Jaden’s father, Will Smith – became a legendary general in the United Ranger Corps, creating a legacy that Kitai is determined to emulate… but all is not going as planned.

“Kitai feels a lot of pressure to step into his father’s shoes,” says Jaden Smith. “Also, Kitai blames himself for his sister’s death – she died years ago in an attack that Kitai thinks he should have done something to stop – and he thinks his dad blames him, too. So the relationship between Kitai and his father is broken, and Kitai is trying to fix it; he’s trying too hard to get his father’s respect and approval.”

Cypher returns home from another long stint of service to learn that Kitai’s intense desire to succeed has led to recklessness, causing him to fail his first attempt to become a Ranger. In an attempt to bridge the rift between father and son, says Will Smith, “Kitai’s mother suggests that Cypher take him on a trip – spend some time together, bonding. But our ship crash-lands in the most inhospitable place in the universe for human beings – which is Earth.”

In the film, everything on Earth has evolved to kill human beings. With his father trapped in the wrecked ship, Kitai will have to brave these elements – and numerous highly evolved species – if he and his father are to have any chance of returning home.

Jaden Smith, now just 14 years old, has already made his mark as a leading man. He first starred on screen opposite his father in “The Pursuit of Happyness,” receiving acclaim for his performance. He would follow that with a supporting role in “The Day the Earth Stood Still” and a leading role opposite Jackie Chan in the worldwide hit “The Karate Kid.” With the release of that film, it was clear that the younger Smith had the talent, the skill, and the charisma to take on such a leading role.

Jaden Smith says that his character is one that any young teen – or anybody who’s been a young teen – can relate to. “Kitai is supposed to be the best of the best – and he is, physically, in what he can do – but he’s reckless,” he says. “He feels he has something to prove, because of who his father is and because of things that have happened in the past. It’s hard for him to control his emotions. So when they crash on Earth, if he is going to survive, he has to put that aside, stop caring about whether or not he impresses his dad. He has to grow up and become a warrior.”

“At the beginning of the movie, Kitai is a little brash, but it’s only from being so scared,” says producer Caleeb Pinkett. “He’s afraid, so he acts like he’s not. The crash strips away all of that bravado, and you see a scared little boy. The only way he’ll get back home is if he can gain the confidence to face his fears – not in a hubristic way, but a humble way of understanding that yes, he is good enough.”

Opening across the Philippines on June 5, “After Earth” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit http://www.columbiapictures.com.ph for trailers, exclusive content and free downloads. Like us at www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and join our fan contests.