The Best of Will(s)

OK, as reported by whoever World Entertainment News is, this is a thoroughgoing slime job and almost completely lacking in context.

For one thing, "Hitler didn't wake up thinking himself evil" is not synonymous with the headline contention "Smith:'Hitler was a good person'" that WEN levels at actor Will Smith.

What my fellow Will is actually quoted as saying:

"I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was 'good'."

strikes me as the sort of spontaneous example one might offer to illustrate a point being made about something/one entirely else from that being referred to. Just at a guess, as a metaphor to help clarify his conceptualisation of the nature and character of the role he was playing, or of his character's opponents motivation in, say, his latest film? 'Ya think, maybe?

There's no real way to tell from the "news release" itself, but the fact that it's posted by Yahoo! UK suggests that it comes from a press event in Britain - at a guess, to support the British run of the film I am Legend. Which would be consistent with other English press anti-American spin to news reporting in recent years. I think the Instapundit Update tends to support that line of thinking.

I'm sure the Smith branch of the Will Family can take a joke with the best of us (he damn sure better, much as he hands them out to everyone else), but I really would like to hear his side of this one day. I bet he gives a good deal more consideration in future to preparing answers to the obvious gottcha questions in advance from now on.