Shark Week 2020 | 'Will Smith: Off the Deep End': Will he get past his fear of drowning to swim with sharks?
“Fear is not real," said Will Smith's character Cypher Raige in 'After Earth'. It is a quote that he's taken to heart, and now that he has accomplished nearly everything in life that he's wanted to, Will set out to conquer his fears. After bungee jumping and falling out of helicopters, Will is through with the heights. It's now time for him to conquer the depths and go swimming with sharks.
The full 'After Earth' quote reads, "The only place that fear can exist is in our thoughts of the future. It is a product of our imagination, causing us to fear things that do not at present and may not ever exist. That is near insanity. Do not misunderstand me — danger is very real, but fear is a choice." A fear of things that do not exist is especially relevant for Will, as during the special he talks about how he has this memory of drowning as a child and being saved by his mother, a memory that kept him away from the water for most of his life. After talking to his mother about it, though, he was shocked to find that it was a memory of an event that never happened. His own fear of the water fabricated the memory completely.
His fears of the water were not helped by the release of 'Jaws' in 1975. "I blame Steven Spielberg," said Will. "I literally felt like a shark could come out of the spout." Spielberg's movie not only contributed to Will's fear of sharks and the ocean, but of water in general. However, Will decided that he was no longer going to let fear poison him and he believed the only way to get rid of his fears was to confront them head on.
That doesn't mean, of course, that he dove headfirst into the first shark-infested waters he could find. The road to swimming with actual sharks was a long one, that took him from his first dive by Lizard Island, Australia, to the Bahamas with fellow divers Scoty and Aaron, to a family diving trip in Lipari, Italy. Each trip got Will a little more comfortable with deep dives, giving him enough knowledge to be comfortable with the water before he could confront his ultimate fear — live sharks.
When he was finally ready, he and his crew returned to the Bahamas, just off of Tiger Beach. As if Will wasn't intimidated enough, to get to deeper waters, he and his crew would have to first dive through 20 or so smaller lemon sharks — so called for their yellowish skin — that had been attracted by the bait that was set out for Will to meet larger, more dangerous sharks. The dozen or so lemon sharks milling about the boat nearly had Will call the whole thing off, but he persevered.
Will had originally thought that he would be in a cage for his first shark experience, but it turned out that he would have no such protection. He would be able to interact with the sharks directly. Despite his fears and despite thinking of all the disasters that would likely happen if this was a movie, Will dove straight in. When he finally came back out, all fear was gone from his smile. He actually got to touch a shark and even gently bat one away as it came towards him. Him, Scoty and Aaron had all gone up against their fears and had come away with a deep appreciation for the majesty of nature, and sharks.
It was a powerful experience for the trio. "Nothing in life will ever feel like that," said Will, after coming back up from the surface. The danger of sharks was very real, but Will chose not to be afraid when it came down to it and it's an experience he will likely treasure for the rest of his life.
You can catch the full Shark Week schedule on Discover Channel here.