‘Independence Day’: Will Smith almost lost role due to studio’s racial bias

Yesterday was the 28th anniversary of the release of ‘Independence Day’, a now cult movie that was released in the US on July 4, 1996. Directed by Roland Emmerich, the film took disaster movies to another level with an alien invasion on a global scale, and was especially celebrated for its visual effects, many of which were practical. It also boasted an eye-catching cast with names such as Will Smith, Bill Pullman, and Jeff Goldblum, among others. But its main star, the star of ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’, was about to lose his iconic role as Steven Hiller due to the racial prejudices of the studio, who saw a white protagonist like Ethan Hawke, one of their favorites, in a better light.

ID4′ would not be the same without Will Smith

This is clear from a statement Roland Emmerich himself made to The Hollywood Reporter (via Entertainment Weekly) on the 25th anniversary of the film’s premiere, in which he assured that 20th Century Fox initially rejected the idea of Will Smith starring in the film, even though he was already a star after the sitcom ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ and the blockbuster ‘Bad Boys’: “‘No, we don’t like Will Smith. He’s unproven. He doesn’t work in international [markets],’” the studio said, according to Emmerich.

“They said, ‘You cast a Black guy in this part, you’re going to kill foreign [box office],’” continues Dean Devlin, the film’s screenwriter. “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,” Devlin concluded.

In addition, Emmerich revealed that Ethan Hawke was one of the studio’s favorites for the role of Will Smith, although he was too young for the director and was convinced of the duo of Will Smith with Jeff Goldblum, the actor who played David Levinson in the movie. Nevertheless, the filmmaker revealed that the discussion with the studio about Will Smith lasted until almost the beginning of the shooting, despite the fact that Emmerich always stood with Will and Jeff.

Emmerich did not hesitate to threaten the studio that he would take the production to Universal Pictures: “I put my foot down. ‘Universal people are calling every day, so give me these two actors or I move over there.’ I don’t think it would have been a possibility [to actually move studios], but it was a great threat,” the director concluded. And in the end, he was right, as Independence Day went on to gross a spectacular $817 million worldwide, making it one of the biggest blockbusters of all time.