Will Smith headlines a stellar cast in Collateral Beauty as Howard, an advertising executive who spirals into depression after suffering a tragedy at home. While his friends and business partners try to reconnect with him and save his company from ruin, Howard seeks an outlet for his grief by writing letters to Love, Time and Death.

Unexpectedly, he receives answers and only then can he understand that these elusive concepts are important to his life, and that even his great loss can reveal moments of meaning and beauty.

Directed by David Frankel, Collateral Beauty brings together a list of Hollywood heavyweights to back Smith up with Edward Norton, Keira Knightley, Michael Pena, Kate Winslet and Helen Mirren comprising the not inconsiderable ensemble.

“The over-arching idea of collateral beauty touched all of us, that no matter how difficult your circumstances, there is something special happening right there. You just have to look for it to see it,” says Smith of the premise behind the film.

The film’s lightness of touch belies the very poignant themes it tackles

Norton, Winslet and Pena star as Whit, Claire and Simon –  Howard’s close friends and business partners who concoct an elaborate and audacious plan to help him through this extremely difficult time. Norton comments that the film’s lightness of touch belies the very poignant themes it tackles – elements; he says that remind him of Billy Wilder movies. “If you look back at some of the movies of the 1930s and 1940s, they were able sometimes to layer in very adult themes, but also had a sort of confection quality to them,” he offers. “When you look at those kinds of films, you marvel at the ability of the filmmakers and actors to straddle those tones and when I read this, I thought it presented that kind of challenge. The tonal balance is interesting.”

“At first Claire thinks it’s a joke,” says Winslet of the idea that Whit sets in motion to get Howard out of his funk. “She’s used to Whit being kind of crazy, but still, this is never going to work.  As soon as she realises he’s being serious and that they could do this together, I think she believes they can genuinely help Howard.”

Adds Pena: “The way Simon sees it, how they try to help Howard is something Howard himself might have done for any one of them if they had gone numb.”  So much so, the three friends soon realise that their plan is also going to help each of them in their own lives as it unfolds.

Helen Mirren, who stars as ‘Death’, was immediately attracted by the film’s story. “It’s original. I hadn’t read anything like it before and I responded to the concept of collateral beauty and what that means,” she says. “It’s a lovely idea. The reality is everyone has a different understanding of these elements; it’s private and personal to them.  But, undoubtedly, these are among the most important and imaginative ideas we have to grapple with as human beings travelling through life.”

Knightley is on board as ‘Love’; her job being to convince Howard that love remains an important part of life. “She’s highly empathetic to Howard’s grief, empathy being a part of love and talks to him in emotional terms that he can feel,” explains Knightley. “But she wants him to understand that love isn’t just the part where everything is great. It’s also the un-believable pain you feel when something is taken away, and that in no way diminishes it or ends it.”

Jacob Latimore takes on the role of Raffi, a young street kid who engages Howard in conversations about Time. “Time is a gift and Howard is squandering it by doing nothing and letting it all go.  There’s more to live for.

“Our conversations are frustrating, but I have to believe they’re helping him in ways he doesn’t understand until later,” elaborates Latimore.

With its life-affirming message set against the backdrop of a snowy New York in Christmastime, Collateral Beauty promises to be the perfect feel-good movie for this time of year.

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