By LAURA M.HOLSON

　　LOS ANGELES-When your are Will Smith, there are few places you can’t get in. Last year, one of those places was China.

　　Government censors allowed only 20 foreign movie imports in 2005, leaving out Mr. Smith’s romantic comedy “Hitch.” The rejection rankled the actor; China is one of the fastest-growing movie markets. So at a gathering of the Sony corporation’s top management in January, Mr. Smith appealed to the chief executive, Sir Howard Stringer, and a studio executive Michael Lynton, to introduce him to Chinese producing partners.

　　 “We can be more helpful in India,” Mr. Lynton told Mr. Smith at their afternoon meeting at the Kahala Resort in Honololo. India has a robust movie industry with none of China’s political constraints. Mr. Lynton offered to introduce the actor to Indian producers, actors and directors. And the next month Mr. Smith took his first trip to India.

　　Now he has a deal- to make movies there instead.

　　Overbrook Entertainment, the company created by Mr. Smith and his business partner, James Lassiter, announced it was working with UTV, a television and film concern run by the entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala. The two have agreed to produce two movies, neither of which will star the popular Mr. Smith.

　　UTV will pay the films’ costs up to a specified sum (after that amount, overbrook has to raise the money) but the burden is on Mr. Smith and Mr. Lassiter to develop a script and hire the cast.

　　The deal says a lot about Hollywood’s desire to court foreign audiences. After years of declining movie attendance at home, studio and movie stars are looking for new opportunities.

　　For instabce, Hugh Jackman made an arrangement in mid-August with 20th Century Fox to produce as many as five films a year in his native Australia. Wuentin Tarantino, the director who is a fan of Chinese martial arts movies, has marketed Asian-language films in the United States under the banner “presented by Quentin Tarantino.”

　　But it says even more about Mr. Smith’s ambition to become an international player, “It’s been said, ‘Why sell something to 10 people when you can sell it to 10 million people?’” said Mr. Smith. “ You have to have a global perspective.”

　　If there was a turning point in Mr. Smith’s foreign appeal, it was in 1995 with the movie “Bad Boys.” Mr. Smith said the producers expected the film would make only about $5 million overseas. Mr. Smith and Mr. Lassiter said they persuaded its producer, Jerry Bruckheimer, to let Mr. Smith go to the Cannes Film Festival to promote it; holding a news conference, throwing an MTV party attended by 1,000 people and conducting scores of one-on-one interviews with journalists.

　　The movie brought in 15 times as much at the international box office as was predicted. Since then, Mr. Smith and Mr. Lassiter pick out a new foreign market to concentrate on with the release of each movie. For “I, Robot” it was Russia; in South Africa it was “Ali.”

　　India now is the country they most want to explore.

　　“We want to make an exchange,” said Mr. Lassiter. “We want to do films there as well as introduce Indian actors and directors to the United States. We have to show people we are willing to adapt to their world.”