A Hollywood giant like Will Smith is never going to go short of offers.
The 48-year-old has been an ever-present on cinema screens for the last two decades and produced a stream of classics from The Pursuit of Happyness to Bad Boys 2.
But even for a career this prolific and feted the apex can only be the moment when he got to punch an alien spark out as Captain Steven Hiller in the 1996 blockbuster Independence Day and quip ‘welcome to earth’ before sparking up a cigar.
There really can’t be any debate around that.
So when the sequel, Independence Day: Resurgence, hit cinemas earlier this year Smith was a glaring absence.
The Fresh Prince star has now explained what persuaded him to turn down the opportunity to reprise his role as the alien-decking, cigar-puffing fighter pilot.
When the actor received the offer for Independence Day: Resurgence, he also had one to star in Suicide Squad. But he could only choose one because the filming schedules clashed.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly he explained why he opted for the super villain saga saying:
“I had the two screenplays in front of me for the Independence Day 2and for Suicide Squad. I had to choose between the two of those,” Smith said. “Even the choice of going to Suicide Squad — nothing about the qualities of the movie — but the choice of trying to go forward versus clinging and clawing backwards. I do want to aggressively go forward and do new things and create and hopefully be able to stumble upon a new heyday.”
It seems the lacklustre reception Suicide Squad had may have prompted him into a change of thinking as he’s just signed on to do Bad Boys 3 AND 4.
So much for not “clinging and clawing backwards”.
