Will Smith: 'There might be a future for me' in politics

Two-time Academy Award-nominee Will Smith says he might consider becoming part of the political process.

"I'm a climber, so if I see a mountain, I have to climb it," Smith, 47, said on Wednesday's edition of The Hollywood Reporter's "Awards Chatter" podcast. "I'm not a camper -- I don't like hanging in one place too long. You know? So I think at this point I'm elevating my ability to be useful in the world. I think that that's what my grandmother always hoped," he said, "that I would make myself useful to people in this lifetime."

The "Men in Black" franchise star, who is earning good notices for his upcoming biographical drama "Concussion," added that, "As I look at the political landscape, I think that there might be a future out there for me. They might need me out there. . . . This is the first year that I've been incensed to a level that I can't sleep, you know? So I'm feeling that at some point in the near future I will have to lend my voice to the conversation in a somewhat different way."

Earlier in the podcast, Smith had spoken about the American Dream as it applied to his "Concussion" character, Dr. Bennet Omalu, the Nigerian immigrant who uncovered chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in NFL players who had suffered repeated head trauma on the field.

"I feel like, even in terms of relating to the character, America's the only place on Earth where I could exist," Smith said. "No other country on Earth produces Will Smiths. You know? No other country on Earth produces Denzel Washingtons or Oprah Winfreys . . . or Barack Obamas. So if you look back historically [at] how black people have had it on the planet, America is elevating quite well . . . So I want people to be able to -- I hope that people will -- take away the power of the American Dream that Dr. Omalu seized on."