Jaden Smith Is The Karate Kid
Photo: Columbia Pictures
Jaden Smith, the son of box office star Will Smith and his wife, actress Jada Pinkett Smith, made his film debut starring opposite his father in The Pursuit of Happyness. This summer, he's starring in the remake of a 1984 cult classic, The Karate Kid.
Will and Jada were producers on the film, so they packed up the family—minus 17-year-old Trey, who stayed behind for his football season—and moved to China, where they shot everywhere from the Great Wall to Beijing's forbidden city, for four months. "It's really such a beautiful story about life and just the nature of growing up and dealing with the things that you're going to have to face," Will says.
After shooting The Pursuit of Happyness, Jaden was bit by the acting bug, Will says. "The Karate Kid was one of my favorites as a child growing up, and we were just looking for that thing that would be perfect for that age group, and it's kids doing martial arts. When the idea of Jackie Chan came up, we started looking at how we could refresh the idea. Such a David and Goliath story."
Will and Jada were producers on the film, so they packed up the family—minus 17-year-old Trey, who stayed behind for his football season—and moved to China, where they shot everywhere from the Great Wall to Beijing's forbidden city, for four months. "It's really such a beautiful story about life and just the nature of growing up and dealing with the things that you're going to have to face," Will says.
After shooting The Pursuit of Happyness, Jaden was bit by the acting bug, Will says. "The Karate Kid was one of my favorites as a child growing up, and we were just looking for that thing that would be perfect for that age group, and it's kids doing martial arts. When the idea of Jackie Chan came up, we started looking at how we could refresh the idea. Such a David and Goliath story."