Will Smith Almost Turned Down Men In Black, Then Steven Spielberg Sent A Helicopter To Get Him
Will Smith's journey towards global domination is well-established at this point. The man who parlayed novelty rap hits such as "Parents Just Don't Understand" into one of the most successful acting careers in Hollywood history is, barring some unfortunate recent developments, a gargantuan of the entertainment industry. At least, that's how Kevin Hart feels. The comedian recently added Smith to his undeniably impressive roster of guests for season 1 of his talk show "Hart to Heart," which has already played host to such legends as the famously reclusive Dr. Dre.
Smith and Hart's conversation was noteworthy for the way in which Hart clearly idolized his guest's career trajectory, and by his own admission tried to emulate it in his own life. As a result, the "Ride Along" star managed to elicit some fairly deep insights from his guest, including that Smith had basically lost a sense of who he was after delving too deep into his character for 1993's "Six Degrees of Separation." But there were also plenty of interesting tidbits to accompany the introspection, such as when Smith spoke about being convinced to star in 1997's "Men In Black" due to Steven Spielberg's efforts.
After "Six Degrees of Separation," Smith starred in 1995's "Bad Boys" before notching his first major box office smash with Roland Emmerich's "Independence Day" in 1997. At this point, there was no question the rapper-turned-actor was a movie star. But as we've seen several times in Hollywood, one wrong decision can put a stop to even the most promising career. And while "Men In Black" obviously became yet another smash for Smith, at the time he couldn't see the vision.
'I didn't want to make two alien movies'
Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, "Men In Black" proved a huge success in the summer of '97, netting $589 million at the global box office. But, as Will Smith told Kevin Hart, before he accepted the role of James Darrell Edwards III/Agent J, he couldn't see the benefit of taking on yet another alien movie. As he explained it, many of his early career choices were guided by his former manager James Lassiter. Smith said (via Insider):
"[Lassiter] just, he just had an eye, I didn't want to make 'Pursuit of Happyness.' I didn't want to make 'Ali' [...] And JL 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."
When asked what convinced him, Smith simply said, "Steven Spielberg sent a helicopter for me." The famed director's company Amblin produced "Men In Black," and it seems he, and apparently Sonnenfeld's wife, was intent upon having Smith star. The actor continued:
"I was in New York. [The helicopter] landed at his house. And, he had me at 'hello.' [...] He said the coldest s**t. 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.'"
Steven Spielberg managed to convince Smith, who accepted the lead role opposite Tommy Lee Jones in "Men In Black," and went on to star in two further movies in the franchise.