How to Get Lucky, Solved

So, a lot of people don't know this, but I co-authored Will Smith's memoir with him. And I spent roughly two or three years with Will. Got to know him really well. Got to know his family, learned all about his career, everything. And there was one story from his entire life that is my favorite story that I love.

In fact, I loved it so much. It was actually the first thing I wrote for the book. It took place back when Independence Day came out. So, you probably >> remember Independence Day part of our childhood. Oh yeah. So, people who don't know, Independence Day came out, I believe, in 1996. At the time, it broke

all sorts of box office records. It was by far the biggest >> action movie that had ever come out. And it was Will's second starring feature that he had ever done. So, he was relatively new. So, back then, movies used to come out on a Friday. They would make a bunch of money over the weekend,

and then you would get the box office numbers in the newspaper on Monday morning. So, there was like a three-day delay. And so, the weekend after Independence Day came out, it was Sunday night and Will got a phone call at about 3:00 in the morning. And he picked it up and it was his dad. And the first thing

his dad said was, "You look at them numbers." And Will's like, "What?" [laughter] And it turned out that, you know, the box office numbers had come out on the East Coast. His dad was up at 6:00 a.m. He had just seen the newspaper. And so he was calling Will, waking him up in

the middle of the night. He says, "You see them damn numbers? You remember what I told you about luck? You remember when I told you there's no such thing as luck? That luck is when opportunity meets preparation? You remember that?" Will's like, "Yeah, Dad. Yeah, I I remember it. Can I go back to bed?" He's