SMITH MAKING THE MOST OF WILL-POWER.

Byline: Amy Dawes Daily News Staff Writer

Saving the world can become a never-ending job. Just ask jug-eared actor Will Smith, who last summer punched out slime-covered aliens in ``Independence Day'' and was immediately asked to do it again in ``Men in Black.''

And since this request came from ``MiB'' executive producer Steven Spielberg, who got the former Philadelphia rapper's attention by helicoptering him to the mogul's Long Island home, Smith allowed as how he could maybe wrangle some aliens again.

Now, with the $80 million-plus creature feature opening today, he's facing up to what are, admittedly, some daunting expectations.

``I really hope people are not expecting it to be as big as `Independence Day,' 'cause you can't even shoot for that,'' said the open-faced Smith, who makes his home, along with his companion, actress Jada Pinkett, on a palatial estate about 60 miles north of Los Angeles. ``This is a drastically different kind of movie - it's more of a hip, quirky, off-center kind of thing.''

True, the rarefied cool of director Barry Sonnenfeld's droll and wacky comedy may not inspire as thunderous a rush into theaters as the chest-pounding patriotism of ``ID4,'' but Smith's widespread appeal could well catapult the movie to blockbuster status just the same.

``Will has this charisma thing that you can't define,'' said Sonnenfeld, who's already cast the loose-limbed actor in his next project, ``Wild, Wild West.'' ``He's tremendously self-confident, charming and funny. He just invites you in - he's a real movie star.''

Not only that, but ever since ``ID4'' introduced him as the fighter pilot-lover of Vivica Fox's stripper, Smith, 28, has been enjoying newfound appeal as a sex symbol.

``I don't know what happened!'' he says, with what sounds like genuine surprise. ``This is the first time in my life that women in general have been attracted to me. I was never the guy that could get the girls, I was never the sexy guy. I was always the cute, silly, goofy guy.''

A performer since the age of 12, when he began rapping at parties in Philadelphia, Smith has spent a long time developing his virtues as an entertainer, which include a knack for witty exclamations and a crowd-pleasing wholesomeness. With Jeff Townes, he formed the act DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince and engaged in clean-cut rhyming that won the duo an NAACP Image Award as well as two Grammy Awards for the singles ``Parents Just Don't Understand'' and ``Summertime.''

Rhyme with reason

``I was never, never into violence as a rapper,'' says Smith, who was raised in a middle-class home (his father owned a refrigeration business, and his mother was a school administrator). ``My litmus test was always, could my mom listen to this and be cool with it?''

Smith's appeal led NBC to create a starring vehicle for him in the television show, ``The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,'' which thrived for six seasons.

He then moved boldly into feature films, crossing up his fans' expectations by taking a straight dramatic role as a gay con artist in the movie version of John Guare's stage success, ``Six Degrees of Separation.''

``For a rapper to play a homosexual, and in a role that wasn't comedy at all - it left behind everything I'd done before. It was looked at as a huge gamble,'' said Smith. ``But a lot of respect came with making that choice. I still think it was the best move I've made at any point in my career.''

Still, the pendulum of Smith's appeal swung quickly back to the mainstream. With the huge box-office success of the movie ``Bad Boys,'' in which he starred with Martin Lawrence, and of ``ID4,'' which grossed more than $306 million, it seems clear that Hollywood and Will Smith will be in a partnership to sell as many movie tickets as possible for a long time to come.

Passion the key

The secret of his success? According to his rather generous view, it's passion.

``I'm a firm believer that as human beings, we're all similarly gifted,'' he says. ``There's people walking around more physically gifted than Michael Jordan, but they don't have the passion and willpower to forsake everything to better their craft.''

``To me, success is strictly based on how much time you spend doing what you love every day. It's strictly, strictly about passion.''

``While the next guy is sleeping, or out playing around with women at a club, I'm working. A couple of years of that, and I'm going to get a little bit ahead.''

After ``ID4,'' Smith was voted International Box-office Star of the Year by theater owners at the ShoWest convention in Las Vegas. He says the fallout from all of this approval has been ``a little bit scary.''

``People I've known forever start acting scared around me,'' he said. ``All of a sudden it went from `Yo, Will,' to `Mr. Smith.' ''

``It wasn't like this with the music or the TV show.''

Of course, Smith is only one part of the appeal of ``Men in Black.'' The cast also includes Tommy Lee Jones as Smith's world-weary partner and Linda Fiorentino (``The Last Seduction'') as a seen-it-all coroner who's well suited for her work (``I hate the living,'' she says).

Then there are the creatures, gadgets and elaborate special effects, designed by Rick Baker (``Gremlins'') and Industrial Light & Magic.

``It was like directing two different movies,'' said Sonnenfeld, who spent 2-1/2 years on the project. ``I directed an entire movie with Tommy and Will, and then I had to direct a whole other movie with the 200 people working on it at ILM.''

Having Spielberg aboard as executive producer proved to be highly useful in the post-production process, said Sonnenfeld. ``If I didn't feel something was good enough, I could just tell these guys, `OK, I'm going to show it to Steven now,' and they would instantly want to make it better,'' said the director. ``Steven is like the 800-pound gorilla.''

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) Shades of `MEN IN BLACK'

(2) Will Smith, left, pictured with ``Men in Black'' co-star Tommy Lee Jones: ``To me, success is strictly based on how much time you spend doing what you love every day.''