It is impossible not to mention Will Smith when we are talking about the actors who took the action movies in Hollywood to the next level. The 54-year-old actor may currently be surrounded by controversies and hurdles, but he is one of the movie stars who can make a movie a smashing hit.
Smith became a shining star for the Black community as he attained a glorious acting career through his hard work. But, there was a time even when the Men In Black actor was almost not cast in a movie because of his race.
The Studio executives of Independence Day said Will Smith is unproven
Independence Day was one of the biggest hits Will Smith has been a part of. The sci-fi action movie was released in 1996. Roland Emmerich, the director of the movie believed in the King Richards actor and he knew Smith was the right choice to play the character of Captain Steven Hiller. The 67-year-old director had to fight with the Studio executives of the movie to cast the 54-year-old actor in the film. During an interview, Emmerich recalled the conversation he had with the Studio executives. While talking about what the executives had to say about Smith, the director said,
“The studio said, ‘No, we don’t like Will Smith. He’s unproven. He doesn’t work in international markets.”
The Studio reportedly believed that if the makers would cast a black guy for the part of Captain Steven, it would kill the foreign box office. Reportedly, both sides were very firm with their stand, but somehow the Moonfall director was able to convince the studio to cast Smith as the lead actor for the movie.
Will Smith on how he felt after learning his character dies in the movie
In the sci-fi action movie, Smith’s character Captain Steven dies at the end of the movie, which made all of his fans a bit teary-eyed. The I Am Legend actor talked about his reaction when he got to know that his character dies at the end of the movie. While talking about his character in Independence Day, the actor said,
“Roland and I had a talk about it. The trailer looks really cool. I’m going to be sitting around with tears in my eyes when that one comes out … It was terrible when I found out my character died.”
Independence Day succeeded to impress the audience, and Smith’s performance in the movie garnered lots of great reviews from the critics and the audiences. The box office collection of the movie was $817.4 million.
