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Will Smith gives kissing tips

Tokyo - Hollywood star Will Smith said he advised his 12-year-old son Jaden to keep his lips closed in a screen kiss in the remake of The Karate Kid, warning him that otherwise he would "look like a whale".

"Try not to keep your mouth open," is what Smith, who produced the movie, advised his son - although he added that it was his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who first gave him the tip during shooting of the 2008 film Seven Pounds.

On the big screen, "if you open your mouth too much, you look like a whale," Smith told a Tokyo press conference Thursday.

"It kind of looks like you're trying to eat the person instead of kissing them," he added before demonstrating his message by locking lips with his wife, who had joined Smith and their son along with martial arts star Jackie Chan.

Jaden drew laughs when he cheekily replied to his dad: "I think it would be a good idea to keep your mouth shut."

How to hunt

A retelling of the hit 1984 film starring Ralph Macchio, The Karate Kid features Jaden as a young boy who is mentored in the martial art of kung fu by Jackie Chan's character in order to stand up to a local bully.

Smith said shooting the movie was a character-building experience for his son, telling the press conference: "Jackie and I really viewed this time with Jaden as essentially to teach him how to hunt.

"This was not just about making a movie or about becoming an actor. This was about becoming a respectable positive young man that has value to the world. In order to do that, you can only do that through blood, sweat and tears."

The film scored $55.7m on its opening weekend in the United States in June. It is released on August 14 in Japan.

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