Will Smith’s 2013 science-fiction film After Earth failed to live up to expectations in the box office and was deemed a “flop” by the Wall Street Journal, but the 46-year-old actor is trying to grow from the film’s failure. His latest film Focus debuts in U.S. theaters on Friday, and Smith revealed in a recent press conference that it marks a major transition in his life, both emotionally and in his career.

During its opening weekend, After Earth earned $27.5 million in the U.S. box office, a 17 percent lower draw than the lowest pre-release expectation of $33 million. The film received mostly negative reviews from critics, with The Wall Street Journal film critic Joe Morgenstern opening his review by asking: “Is After Earth the worst movie ever made?”

In a recent Los Angeles press conference for Focus, Smith revealed that he is well-aware of the critiques of his last film, and that getting cast as the star of the con-artist comedy-drama written and directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa caused him to develop a completely new attitude about his career.

“This film really marks a transition in my life, emotionally and in my career. After the failure of After Earth, a thing got broken in my mind,” said Smith, who continued that getting cast made him realize, “Oh, wow, I’m still alive. Oh, wow. Actually, I still am me, even though the movie didn’t open at No. 1. Wait I still can get hired on another movie.'”

Smith went on to say that role in Focus helped him focus on the concepts of goal orientation and path orientation, and reminded him that he was “still a good person.” He told the press that he doesn’t even care whether the film debuts as No. 1 or No. 10 in the box office, since he is proud of what he created and enjoyed working with castmates Margot Robbie, Rodrigo Santoro, Gerald McRaney and B.D. Wong in the film. Smith concluded by likening the process of acting in and creating a film to painting.

“I’m going to paint and some paintings are going to be fantastic. Others are going to not be so good, but I no longer measure the quality of myself on whether or not somebody else thinks what I painted is beautiful.”