BLOCKBUSTERS AND BABIES; WHILE GROWING AS AN ACTOR, SMITH RELISHES ROLE OF FATHER.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Writer

Getting people to buy millions of records, millions more movie tickets and watch a middling network sitcom for six years was relatively easy.

Now it's time for Will Smith to tackle the hard stuff.

``There's something about when you have two kids: That's when you're really a parent,'' says the 30-year-old superstar, who welcomed his second son in July. ``There's a whole other dynamic, a whole other interaction, a whole other level of democratic dexterity that you have to have to deal with more than when you have one child.''

So far, Smith is finessing the increased fatherhood challenge with the same deceptively effortless aplomb that has made him a multimedia phenomenon. The new baby, Jaden - his first with actress-wife Jada Pinkett Smith - has so far won the indulgence of Willard III (called Trey), the 5-year-old from Smith's first marriage.

``He loves being a big brother more than he loves having a little brother; he loves the title of big brother,'' Smith observes. ``The thing that concerns me now, having two boys, is not turning into that crazy father who's always on the sidelines yelling, `Don't listen to that coach! Do what I told you!' ''

Smith is joking on the square about the overachiever's drive that's as big a factor in his success as his megawatt smile and disarmingly big, goofy ears. That competitive urge has impelled Smith to expand his screen image - after comic/heroic turns in consecutive blockbusters ``Bad Boys,'' ``Independence Day'' and ``Men in Black'' - with his new movie, ``Enemy of the State.''

He knows that, theoretically, this could be a hard sell. But like everything Will Smith attempts, he approached it with more confidence than doubt.

``There's no superhero activity going on in this film,'' he says of ``Enemy,'' which is nonetheless a paranoid chase thriller. ``This is more along the lines of `Six Degrees of Separation,' with a couple of mainstream explosions to make the trailer look good.''

Early movie risk

The 1993 ``Six Degrees,'' based on John Guare's acclaimed play, showcased Smith's acting range and depth years before his movie-star power was established. Playing a facile con man who charmed and swindled gullible, wealthy New Yorkers, Smith proved he could be a lot more than the Fresh Prince.

But that film was not widely seen, and the vast majority of people only know Smith as the bubble-gum rapper and personable star of TV's ``Fresh Prince of Bel Air,'' and as his later, wisecracking movie-hero incarnation.

``Enemy of the State's'' Robert Clayton Dean character retains some of Smith's funny/formidable characteristics, but he's overall a more sober, troubled character. You would be, too, if a rogue operation within the ultra-secret National Security Agency had targeted you for destruction and was employing every modern, high-tech surveillance system at its disposal to hunt you down and ruin your life.

``This is just a real, regular guy,'' Smith insists. ``He's not standing in the face of danger with his chest poked out. There's definitely a wider emotional range than people are used to seeing from me.''

The filmmakers had no doubts that Smith could pull it off.

``Will and Gene (Hackman, who co-stars in ``Enemy'') were always my first choices for this film,'' says director Tony Scott (``Top Gun,'' ``Crimson Tide''). ``Will, I thought, was perfect for this role because he is what you see here. He is the sweetest, most affable being on two legs, and the role was this sweet guy who gets his life destroyed.''

``Will has never done a picture like this before,'' adds producer Jerry Bruckheimer (``Bad Boys,'' ``Armageddon''). `` `Six Degrees of Separation' was a much more serious movie, but in this picture he has to play a real character. He doesn't have the comfort of falling back on jokes and one-liners - he's got to be real. It sheds a whole new light on his career, which is great.''

Will's changes

By design - and a little luck - Smith's career has long been an exercise in finding a flattering new light to shine on it. The rapping made him a high school star back home in Philadelphia years before the multiplatinum, Grammy-winning recordings with his friend Jeff Townes (a k a DJ Jazzy Jeff).

Like many rap acts, though, Fresh and Jazzy went out of style almost as quickly as they became national sensations. But Quincy Jones had caught Smith's act - and, just in time to rescue him from bankrupt obscurity, gave the charismatic but untrained actor a tryout on the ``Bel Air'' sitcom.

Needless to say, Smith proved a natural. Yet even in the wake of massive film stardom - ``Independence Day'' is one of the top-grossing films of all time, and ``Men in Black'' made an eye-popping $572 million worldwide - Smith felt it was important to return to his musical beginnings. The result, his first solo album, ``Big Willie Style,'' released a year ago, generated such hits as the touching father/son sampling of ``Just the Two of Us,'' and the cultural touchstone ``Gettin' Jiggy Wit It.''

``Eclecticism is a virtue,'' Smith says in exaggerated, dulcet tones. ``But I get a little concerned about people's expectations from me - and if I don't live up to them, then being disappointed. But I just want to do the best work that I can, keep my head clear and not worry about how much money it makes.''

A happy Fourth

That said, there is noticeable pride in claiming the two highest-grossing summer movies of the last three years. Indeed, Smith's next release, a Western-espionage-action-effects-comedy based on the '60s TV series ``The Wild, Wild West,'' has already been scheduled for a July 4, 1999, holiday release - the same date Smith conquered with ``Independence'' in 1996 and ``Men'' in '97.

``There's a piece of me that likes to say, `July 4 is my day,' I dare you to stick another movie there,'' he exults.

It's something to be proud - even a little egotistical - about. All the more so since Smith is the first African-American actor since Eddie Murphy who can claim such across-the-board popularity.

That's one accomplishment, though, which he finds a little hard to deal with.

``It's uncomfortable, sometimes, because there are so few successful black actors in comparison to successful Caucasian actors,'' he says. ``So few that every move you make is `a step for your people.' It's like, wow, that's a bit much. I try not to think about it. My only real litmus test is, `Will my mother be embarrassed by the work I do?' As long as Mom and my family aren't embarrassed, then it generally works out for my people also.''

That said, Smith hopes to play the most iconic of role models, Muhammad Ali, in his next film project.

``If it's going to happen, it needs to happen fairly soon,'' Smith says of playing the outrageously articulate, now tragically impaired boxing legend. ``At this point in my life and where my body naturally wants to be is perfectly in the middle to lose weight and play Ali young and go up to 210 or 215 to play him a little older. Now is optimum.''

Domestic dad

Well, not right now. After finishing post-production special effects work on ``Wild West'' in a few weeks, Smith plans to spend several months just ``changing diapers and heating up bottles.'' Family, he makes it very clear, is as important to him as stardom.

``Getting married didn't really change anything in our relationship,'' he says of longtime sweetheart Pinkett, with whom he tied the knot last New Year's Eve. ``Spiritually, we had already committed our lives to one another before that. It's so important to be friends, beyond being just in love and thinking each other is sexy. We were so comfortable that we weren't even going to have a ceremony, but her mom was not having that!

``No, this is the life that I've always dreamed of. I wanted to be married and have kids at, like, 16. There were four of us in the house when I grew up, and I always loved that family interaction. So I've just been dying to do this.''

Even as his celebrity has skyrocketed and continues to expand, Smith remains well aware that there are more precious things in life. And that's what gives him the strength to tackle the ever-harder new challenges.

``You have to depend on yourself, learn not to let your successes go to your head or your failures go to your heart,'' he reckons. ``I don't know how someone can survive this type of success without ever having any stable life experience. Hollywood can eat you alive.

``But I can take it.''

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) WILL HAS HIS WAY

A happy marriage, a new baby, a hit album and an intense new movie. How much luckier could this guy be?

(2) no caption (Will Smith)

(3) Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, shown arriving at the Emmys, were married last New Year's Eve.