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LOS ANGELES — Will Smith has been a sensation in the entertainment world for decades, from a musician to a television and film actor, from an online creator to a National Geographic Explorer with previous projects such as, “One Strange Rock” and “Welcome to Earth.” Now, he’s embarking on a globe-trotting adventure across the seven continents to seek out the most remote stories out there from pole to pole.
His latest project with National Geographic, “Pole To Pole with Will Smith,” takes viewers along for a ride five years in the making as Smith spends 100 days face-to-face with everything from the icy winds of the Polar Plateau to the dark cavernous depths 200 feet below.
In an interview with ‘s On The Red Carpet Storytellers Spotlight, Smith shared how his curiosity takes him to all edges of the world to share experiences with communities, cultures and terrains.
“When you get into uncharted territory, and you have no idea what you’re doing and how it’s going to turn out, that’s the peak level of creativity,” Smith said. “You’re with the currents. You’re out in the uncharted territories of your own mind.”
At the center of all his daring feats is a fierce curiosity for storytelling.
“The heart behind ‘Pole to Pole’ is to tell gripping, entertaining stories about the wonders of our world through everyday people,” Karen Greenfield said.
Greenfield is the senior vice president of inclusive content and engagement at National Geographic. Her responsibility is to find authentic global stories told by global people.
Along with meeting local communities on his travels, Smith is accompanied by polar researcher Allison Fong and alpine climber Richard Parks.
“Having Richard and Ally join Will in this journey was absolutely incredible,” Greenfield said. “These aren’t bigger than life icons. These are everyday people.”
Parks is a former professional rugby player who, following a career-ending injury, began climbing after picking up a book by Ranulph Fiennes.
“I was captivated by his stories of endeavor and exploration,” Parks said. “At that period of my life, I needed something to channel my energies.”
Parks went on to become the first person to climb each continents’ highest mountain and stand on both the North Pole and South Pole in a single calendar year.
“That was the doorway into this chapter,” Parks said. “Polar athlete, alpine athlete, dad. It’s hard to know what I am, really. I’m just curious.”
Parks accompanies Smith to one of the ends of the Earth in “Pole to Pole,” braving the Polar Plateau to reach the South Pole. It was a strategic decision built to test his confidence and find his strength. With only Parks and Smith on the treacherous journey, Smith had to push through wind, exhaustion, and wanting to give up to finally make it to end of the Earth.
“It was the most authentic scream, outpouring of joy, of achievement,” Parks said. “From then on, I knew Will was there.”
Fong is a microbial oceanographer and polar ecologist, who spends hundreds of days at sea to study the tiniest forms of life and their effect on the entire globe. In order to sample sea ice ridges, she and Smith traveled to the opposite end of the world to dive underneath the arctic ice.
“The dive at the North Pole was the scariest thing Allison and I went on,” Smith said.
The sea ice samples are part of Fong’s research to study how important the microbial world is to understanding climate change. It’s a dangerous part of her job in an extremely remote place on the planet.
“A storm came in and I saw Allison’s eyes well up with tears,” Smith said. “It was that kind of devotion to the evolution of humankind. It was beautiful and brutal. It was burtal-ful [sic]] to watch.”
Storytelling wasn’t part of what Fong initially aimed to do as a scientist, but it’s become a part of how she shares her own curiosity of the world with others.
“I realized,” she explained. “The most powerful thing I can do as a scientist is to get people to come and engage with this whole idea of how we build knowledge. Of how we stay curious.”
That curiosity-sharing with others was a focus of National Geographic’s Content Creator Day featuring Smith, bringing together online creators of educational and entertaining content.
Lindsay Nicole, a zoologist, said that the bridge between the scientific community and content creation is an important one with people getting most of their scientific information online.
“I love that Nat Geo has embraced the creator community, especially coming from a scientific background,” Nicole said. “I think the scientific community has some catching up to do with including creators in the space, and Nat Geo is really leading that effort.”
The day was not just for other science creators, but for entertainment creators as well. As a voice-over creator, Tristan Maloney was initially apprehensive when he first got his invitation.
“Nat Geo reached out to me and asked me if I wanted to be part of a secretive thing with Will Smith,” Maloney said. “At first I thought that there was no way, this was definitely not real, but it turned out it was very real.”
Maloney was able to create some of his animal voice-over content with Smith, collaborating between both of their styles.
Another collaborator at the Content Creator Day was Evan Williams. In his content, he plays the character of an arrogant film producer. He got the chance to pitch a film idea to Smith while fully in character.
“Probably the greatest honor of my career was that he was like, ‘Wait that’s a good idea,'” Williams said. “The thought that I just got to sit across from this guy with a camera lens on us is pretty cool.”
The entire day was centered around meeting different storytellers, all with different ideas and perspectives. Collaboration is just another way that creators share their curiosity.
“Life for me is about people,” Smith said. “You work with young creators and people who are at the beginning of their careers, trying to find their voice. Creators tend to look at it from a different angle, and it’s inspiring to me.”
For Parks, his feats of exploring all the planet has to offer is a portion of the job. The other part is sharing stories that connect with people on a personal level.
“We’ve got to meet people where they are,” Parks said. “We can’t bang on about climate change, or we can’t talk about how amazing Antarctica is and how magical the planet is from an ivory tower. You have to roll your sleeves up, you have to get dirty.”
Storytelling from everyday people is at the heart of Pole to Pole. The series showcases what any one can accomplish if they allow their curiosity to flourish.
“My message to someone who is thinking about being a National Geographic explorer, or more importantly think they cannot be,” Greenfield said. “I would offer: you are already an explorer if you’re curious, if you have ideas.”
That same curiosity is what pushed Smith to see parts of the world that only a select few witnessed before.
“People talk about fearlessness,” Smith said. “I don’t think fearlessness is a real thing. You’re terrified, you just relax and do it anyway.”
Watch ‘s On The Red Carpet Storytellers Spotlight interview with the “Pole to Pole with Will Smith” cast and crew in the video player above.
Andres Rovira and Dean Singleton contributed to this report.
The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of National Geographic and this station.
