Actor Will Smith is currently out on the town promoting his new show Pole to Pole, in which he goes on expeditions with environmentalists and scientists all over the world. Despite the recent controversies surrounding him, the actor seems to be devoting all his attention to this new project. However, in a recent interview, Smith revealed that this zeal almost got him killed while he was exploring the North Pole with a group of scientists.
The King Richard actor went on The Tonight Show to promote Pole to Pole and talk about some of the experiences he had while filming it. Fallon asked him about the toughest expeditions that were attempted during the show, and Smith was quick to recall his time shooting on both the South Pole and North Pole. The actor revealed that apart from the location of the expedition, he is mostly kept in the dark about what lies ahead, something which caught him by surprise while scaling an ice wall in the South Pole.
He said, “It was -37°C in the South Pole, and it almost starts feeling cold — it feels like fire. So my guide went on the ice wall first, and then he lowered the cables for me to follow. So the way we shoot the show is that I don’t know what’s going to happen, because they want the audience to see a genuine reaction. I didn’t know what was going to happen, and suddenly a storm came in while I was climbing. I was like, ‘Where the hell is my stuntman‘ — National Geographic doesn’t know the movie star rules.”
Recalling his near-death experience, Smith said, “So we went scuba diving at the North Pole, and we did a dive under the ice, and the ice can be up to 10 feet thick. We went about 40 yards away, and I started hearing ‘Abort dive!’ I tried to ascend, but I am under the ice, so I grabbed the tether attached to me and pulled, and I accidentally pulled my mask off. I told myself, ‘Will, calm down.’ Then I felt myself floating because someone started pulling on the tether. It went from terror to the most spiritual and beautiful thing.”
When asked about why he decided to do a show like this at this point in his career, the actor replied, “I wanted to go out, and I wanted to venture. I was at the point of my life where I had gone beyond my material pursuits. I knew that there was another thing I was looking for, and I knew that it was going to be in my deepest fears.”
