Will Smith

By Sean Daly

07/15/2004 at 06:00 AM EDT

Mr. Fourth of July is back with another summer spectacle – this time hunting down a killer machine in I, Robot – but for the real-life Will Smith, all the drama can stay onscreen. At 35, the actor has settled into family life with wife Jada Pinkett Smith and kids Jaden, 6, Willow, 3, and (from a previous marriage) Trey, 11. Smith, who says he's "tickled pink" these days and pulls in a $20 million-plus paycheck, recently talked about what really stirs his emotions, his new album and how he manages to look so good while spending zip.

So why'd you want to do I, Robot? Unlike you, your character, Detective Del Spooner, seems really dark.
To have a movie where your hero cries about a little girl being killed by a robot ... I loved the challenge of being able to make a movie with that kind of texture and depth and be able to put it out in July.

Is it okay for guys to cry?
Oh, God, I cry all the time. I sit up in the movie theater ... I escape. I go with whatever the emotion of the film is. It is not difficult for me to go where the filmmakers are trying to take me.

What's a movie that made you cry?
I was really surprised that people didn't connect to (Denzel Washington's) John Q. I was gone (crying) the whole movie (as) a father with a son that has had a difficult relationship, divorce and all of that.

How is the family? I hear they came to the set.
All the time. It was tough because my daughter thinks that there are really robots. She's 3.

You live a pretty glamorous life. What are you cheap about? We all have something ...
I don't like paying for clothes. I just can't do it. A $600 T-shirt? No. Four-hundred-dollar shoes? Are you crazy?

More on AOL

• More on AOL

Don't people give you that stuff?
Very rarely do I pay for anything I have on. I just can't. I'll try to work stuff out like if I wear it to a premiere I'll make sure it gets in a magazine, but you gotta give me that sh-- for free.

What if they send you stuff that is really ugly?
They do! Clothes are ridiculously expensive, and I am kind of out of touch with fashion.