Will Smith's New Movie Helped Him Cope With the Heartbreaking Death of His Father

Will Smith's new movie, Collateral Beauty, hasn't come out yet, but even the trailer is reducing people to puddles of tears. The emotional film centers on Will's character, a man who experiences a personal tragedy and then reevaluates everything in his life. While sitting down with Ellen DeGeneres on Thursday, he opened up about how filming helped him cope with the recent passing of his father, Willard Smith Sr. "What was really interesting is I got the screenplay right when my father was diagnosed," he said. "So I'm doing all of this research about a guy who experiences death at the time my father was given six weeks." Thankfully his dad lived for four months beyond the date doctors gave him and even cracked a joke about it. "He was like, 'Man, this crap is embarrassing.' I said, 'What, Dad?' He said, 'Man, you tell everyone you're going to die in six weeks and three months later . . .'" Watch all of the beautiful things Will had to say about his father above.