Why Will Smith almost declined his ‘Men In Black’ position

Former rapper and esteemed actor Will Smith is a extremely adorned entertainer who has been the recipient of Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Display Actors Guild Awards, and BAFTAs. Nevertheless, certainly one of his first massive movies after the sitcom, The Recent Prince of Bel-Air, was the 1997 motion movie Men in Black. 

Nevertheless, the actor nearly turned down the position of Agent J however was cleverly satisfied by the famend E.T. director Steven Spielberg to simply accept the provide, which noticed him grow to be the star of the epic film franchise.

Throughout an look on Kevin Hart’s Peacock chat present, Hart to Coronary heart, Smith spoke extensively in regards to the movie, which grossed $589million worldwide and detailed how he didn’t need to a sci-fi movie as he had simply featured in Independence Day solely a yr earlier.

Opening up about his mindset on the time, Smith unveiled, “In the heyday, the ten movies I made at the top of my career, [my then-manager James Lassiter] was choosing the films. He just had an eye. I didn’t want to make, Pursuit of happiness. I didn’t want to make Ali. And [James] picked Men in Black.”

He continued, “I kind of understood Men in Black a little bit but I didn’t want to make Men in Black. That was the next year after Independence Day. So I didn’t want to make two alien movies back to back.”

Nevertheless, the legendary Steven Spielberg, who was the movie’s government producer, knew what he wished and, along with his slick wordplay, managed to get Smith on board regardless of his preliminary reservations.

Speaking in regards to the snazzy manner Spielberg talked him round, Smith disclosed, “Steven Spielberg sent a helicopter for me to talk to me. I was in New York. It landed at his house. And, like, he had me at hello. And it was the first time I ever had lemonade with carbonated water. You can’t say no to that.”

He continued, “He mentioned the coldest shit. He mentioned, ‘Tell me why you don’t need to make my film…’ And he was the producer. And he put the ellipsis on the finish; it was the dot, dot, dot. If he had continued, he would have mentioned, ‘Joker, you know I made Jaws, right? You know I made E.T.‘”

Realising that he was considering turning down a role from a proven success, Smith ended up taking on the role and became a bigger star for it. The fourth instalment of another one of Smith’s hit movies, Dangerous Boys, is ready to be launched subsequent yr on June 14th, 2024.

You may hear Smith speaking about almost rejecting the position under.