There was a long period whenWill Smith was one of the biggest, most bankable movie stars on the planet.The Hollywood Reporter points out that the Oscar nominee is “the only actor to have eight consecutive films gross north of $100 million at the domestic box office and 10 consecutive films gross north of $150 million internationally.” But, during a candid conversation at a Cannes Lions session on Tuesday, the actor opened up about realizing that fame and box-office figures had gone to his head.

“I had so much success that I started to taste global blood and my focus shifted from my artistry to winning,” Smith told his audience, perAdweek, referring to his box-office-gold streak that includedIndependence Day,Hancock, and theMen in Black films. “I wanted to win and be the biggest movie star, and what happened was there was a lag—aroundWild Wild West time—I found myself promoting something because I wanted to win versus promoting something because I believed in it.”

Despite being a critical flop, the 1999Barry Sonnenfeld collaboration still broke the $100 million mark at the box office. And Smith pointed out that the marketing campaigns that worked forWild Wild West’s audience would never work on today’s social-media savvy consumers.

“That smoke and mirrors in marketing is over,” Smith said. “Back in the 80s and 90s you had a piece of crap movie you put a trailer with a lot of explosions and it was Wednesday before people knew your movie was shit . . . But now what happens is 10 minutes into the movie, people are tweeting, ‘This is shit, go seeVin Diesel.’”

Smith said that the critical walloping thatWild Wild West received taught him an important lesson: “When I read a movie script [now], it’s not, ‘Is this going to make a lot of money?’ I'm asking myself, ‘How does this improve lives?’ It doesn't have to be deep. If it’s just comedy and people come to get a laugh, it improves lives.”

“In making the shift from product to people,” he continued, “I am trusting that if I have a deeper comprehension of people, the product I create is going to be more successful.”

This is not the first time that Smith has referred toWild Wild West as a career low point. In 2015, the actorrevealed that he and his camp has assumed he was unstoppable at the box office until he took on the ill-fated Western.

“There’s been disappointments, but every time I came back with a newer, fresher attitude,” he said. “But the first time where it didn’t work the way that I wanted wasWild Wild West. I was coming off ofMen in Black, and everything was like, “Oh, we can’t lose,’ you know? I was like, ‘Oh! Tragedy!’”

Earlier last year, Smith also opened up about the devastating upset ofAfter Earth, the sci-fi film he starred in with sonJaden Smith. Even though the film fared decently overseas, Smith said that the experience rocked him to his core. “After the failure ofAfter Earth, a thing got broken in my mind,” Smith said. “[Afterward] I was like, ‘Oh, wow. I'm still alive. Oh, wow. Actually, I still am me, even though the movie didn’t open number one. Wait. I can still get hired on another movie.’”

Smith returns to screens this August forSuicide Squad, the antihero ensemble in which he plays Deadshot.