Will Smith: "I'm Building The Family I've Always Dreamed Of"

Will Smith enters a room like a tornado. Ask him how he's doing and he smiles before saying, "I feel so good it's a damn shame."

His attitude makes your day better. His smile makes you smile. That's the power of Will Smith.

He's back in a big way with Men in Black 3, and is also watching his family rise to stardom. At 43, the superstar who holds court at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills says that there are younger stars nipping at his designer shoes.

In person, he looks sleek in black pants, a beige shirt and with a friendly smile on his face. "At the dinner table, Jaden has this predatory look in his eyes," Smith says with a laugh. "He is so coming for me at the box office. I said, 'Son, I will teach you everything I know. And if you work hard, you can become the second biggest movie star of all time.'" 

He laughs harder when telling me how the other day, no one cared about his star power. "These teenagers walk up and say, 'Hey, aren't you the Karate Kid's father?' It happens all the time now. I'll be out and someone will run up and say, 'Tell Willow I love her video for 'Whip My Hair,'" Smith says, shaking his head.

His entire family is in the business now including son Jaden, 13, who starred in the reboot of The Karate Kid, and is filming the new M. Night Shyamalan film After Earth with his father. Then, there's young Willow Smith, 11, whose song and video for "Whip My Hair" was an Internet sensation. The Sexiest Looks From The 2012 Billboard Music Awards

Will is happily married to Jada Pinkett Smith, 40, and sat down to talk movies, family and his dream life with us:

Does it feel great to be back with another Men in Black film? What was the appeal of the film for you?
I'd like to make movies that have some message or make some statement. With Men in Black 3, we connect to the destructive nature of secrets and how a relationship can get repaired through the destruction of secrets.

Tommy Lee Jones is a tough guy in real life. How do you break the ice?
I just kiss him. Tongue kiss. Just joking ... Tommy Lee is actually hilarious in his own right. But if you look at the body of his work he's most like his character in The Fugitive. That's how he talks and jokes. That's his type of energy. When you hit him with a really big joke, Tommy Lee will look at you with his serious face and go, "Huh." You know, that's a really big score. A-List Links: Will Smith Slaps A Male Reporter For Kissing Him

Tell us about your life at home. How do you make it work?
It's all about love and communication. It's wonderful to be with the people you love.

Now, you have a family business together.
I'm producing my kids' projects and my wife's TV show. I'm actually loving that side of the business. I fell into it and I've found that the thing most natural to me is actually producing and editing. Suddenly, I realized that it has been three years that I've been off-camera. I knew it was time to get back to work.

More juicy content from YourTango:

• The 20 'Golden Rules' Of Using Technology Wisely In A Relationship
• What You Must Know In Order To Make A Long Distance Relationship Work
• 4 Strangest Celebrity Family Relationships Ever

Why is working with your wife and kids so important to your family?
Oh man, I go back to this particular time in my life as a child when I watched Dallas. As long as I can remember that was my vision for my life. I loved that their property had a name. They called it Southfork. I thought, "How does a house have a name?" Our house doesn't have a name. In Philly, we call our house "Row House." I wanted to have a family business someday where everybody came to breakfast because we lived on the property and talked about our business over all those meals. Each time I watched Dallas, I thought, "I want that!" Jada Pinkett Smith Opens Up About Her Kids, Her Body, And How She Fell In Love With Will

So, you always planned to do this with Jada and the kids?
I've been like a mad scientist trying to build my own Dallas. Now, there is this joy in watching an idea I had as a seven-year-old coming to fruition. I'm actually building the family I always dreamed of and doing what we love together. I'm building a family around the entertainment business and learning all the lessons with my family. I love watching my family blossom.

Are you a tough Dad?
My children have opinions. Take Willow. She has this huge record "Whip My Hair" and she cuts off all her hair in real life. Her mother tells me, "I'm okay with that, sweetie." I'm wondering if she will get flack for cutting off all her hair. But it's also so obvious to me that you have a little girl here. How can you teach her that she's in control of her body if I tell here that I'm in charge of what she can do with her hair? Someday, she will replace me with some other man when she goes out in the world. She has to have command of her body, so she can tell other people you can't just touch this body if I don't want you to touch it. We're teaching her that her body belongs to her. She makes decisions about it for herself. 12 Famous Fathers' Quotes About Love

So you and Jada are on the same page?
The most difficult part for me is the emotional management. Jada and I talk about whether you pull back during the teenage years.

What do you teach your kids about failure?
Failure is a label. It has no bearing on what actually happened. What actually happened that's considered failure can turn out to be the best thing that every happened to you. You just have to decide it's the best thing that ever happened to you. With my kids, I control how I label things. They will become what I say it is. It's very important to me that they have the power to create the lives that they want. I know I have the life that I want.

Tell us: are you going to go see Men in Black 3 this weekend?