Will Smith Nearly Appeared in Two Independence Day Sequels cbr.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cbr.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
“No, we don’t like Will Smith,” Roland Emmerich recalled the studio saying. “He’s unproven. He doesn’t work in international [markets].”
Dean Devlin remembered a racial component being a factor saying, “They said, ‘You cast a Black guy in this part, you’re going to kill foreign [box office].’
“Our argument was, ‘Well, the movie is about space aliens. It’s going to do fine foreign.’ It was a big war, and Roland really stood up for [Smith] and we ultimately won that war.”
Emmerich ultimately issued an ultimatum: either move on with Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith in the lead roles or they would move the film to Universal Studios.