Will Smith is a charismatic actor who has no doubt moved the audience to tears. Being as versatile as he is, Smith effortlessly transforms from total action-packed roles to complete heartfelt performances. Films like The Pursuit of Happyness and Seven Pounds can even make the hardest of hearts tear up.
However, it wasn’t any of his very emotional films that made the Magnolia director tear up. As surprising as it seems, it was the Men in Black 3 that made Paul Thomas Anderson cry.
Will Smith’s Men In Black 3 Made Magnolia Director Cry
The Magnolia fame director, Paul Thomas Anderson is known for making emotionally wrenching and through-provoking movies. His films typically delve into the complexity of characters, and their intricate relationships, and showcase deep human emotions through interconnected stories. Even Magnolia was a film on themes of regret and redemption, exploring the flawed aspects of human nature through the complexity of emotions.
On the other hand, Will Smith‘s Men in Black 3 delved deeper into the relationship between Smith’s character Agent J, and Tommy Lee Jones‘ character Agent K. The story was centered around their bond and how they came into each other’s lives for the first time. As Agent J travels back in time to save Agent K from being murdered by a ruthless alien and encounters a young Agent K. From there begins the story of the poignant bond between J and K and the significance of their relationship is showcased through themes of action, humor, and science-fiction.
The time travel and the deeply emotional journey of the characters set in the theme of action and adventure movies Anderson to tears, who remarked,
“Did you see ‘Men In Black III’? It was [expletive] great. . . . The time-travel stuff [made me] cry my eyes out. I’m a sucker for that stuff.”
However, this revelation doesn’t seem as surprising considering the fact that Anderson is very fond of past lives and time travel.
Magnolia Director Is Very Fond Of The Themes Of Past lives And Time Travel
While working on developing his film The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson came across certain Scientology concepts that appealed to him. Time travel and the video of past lives appeared very enchanting to the Magnolia director, who couldn’t help but state in an interview,
“Investigating another time when you might have lived is just inherently so hopeful and so optimistic and so sweet to me. You see it in all the things coming out of that time, whether it was music and the songs of that period — everything was about ‘seeing you again’ or ‘I’ll find you someday.’ . . . You’re talking about finding ways to go back in time and to pick up some lost piece — and that stuff is just food and drink to me.”
And that is the reason Anderson was moved to tears when he saw Will Smith’s Men in Black 3.
Men in Black 3 is available to stream on Amazon Prime.
Source: The Washington Post
