Will Smith almost turned down what ended up being the film franchise that turned him into a bonafide superstar — but thankfully Steven Spielberg was too slick for him to turn down.
The Fresh Prince was the special guest on the latest episode of Kevin Hart’s Hart to Heart podcast, published on Thursday (August 3).
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While discussing the film that went on to make a cool $589million worldwide, the esteemed actor revealed that he initially was going to turn it down because he didn’t want another alien movie so soon after 1996’s Independence Day.
“In the heyday, the 10 movies I made at the top of my career, [my then-manager James Lassiter] was choosing the films,” he said, according to Insider. “He just had an eye. I didn’t want to make Pursuit of Happyness. I didn’t want to make Ali. And [James] picked Men in Black. 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.”
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Thankfully for Will Smith’s career, the film’s executive producer Steven Spielberg was cooler than the other side of the pillow – and richer – and knew how to convince the future Agent J.
“Steven Spielberg sent a helicopter for me to talk to me,” Smith explained. “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.”
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He continued: “He said the coldest shit,” Smith added. “He said: ‘Tell me why you don’t want to make my movie…’ And he was the producer. And he put the ellipsis at the end, it was the dot, dot, dot. If he had continued, he would have said, ‘Joker, you know I made Jaws, right? You know I made E.T.‘”
And the rest was history! You can view the whole conversation here if you are a Peacock subscriber.
Just last week, it was reported that the fourth installment of another one of Will Smith’s successful franchises, Bad Boys co-starring Martin Lawrence, will drop on Father’s Day weekend next year. As of press time, the film has a projected release date of June 14, 2024.
Deadline further confirmed that the three previously released films have grossed $891million to date, and the outlet is anticipating that the newest installment will have a similarly successful box office.
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Bad Boys 4 is currently set to go up against Disney/Pixar movie, Inside Out 2, on its opening weekend.
