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It’s wild to think about Independence Day without Will Smith as Captain Steven Hiller, right? But that almost happened. Back in ’96, when the movie was gearing up, director Roland Emmerich and writer Dean Devlin hit a massive roadblock with 20th Century Fox. The studio wasn’t keen on Smith for the role because they didn’t think he’d click with international audiences. They said, “You cast a Black guy in this part, you’re going to kill foreign [box office].” Like, really? That was the mountain they had to climb.
Emmerich and Devlin didn’t back down, though. According to Devlin, it was “a big war.” The studio thought Smith was “unproven,” and they were worried that his star power wouldn’t travel well overseas. But Emmerich wasn’t having it. The director was determined to make the combo of Smith and Jeff Goldblum work. After all, they were the perfect team to take on space aliens. But the casting drama was still unresolved as the days ticked by, and the clock ran out.
In a bold move, Emmerich laid down the law. He threatened to take the movie to Universal if 20th Century Fox didn’t get their act together and cast Smith. “I put my foot down. ‘Universal people are calling daily, so give me these two actors, or I move over there,'” Emmerich revealed. Although he admits that switching studios wasn’t an option, the threat worked. Fox gave in, and just like that, Will Smith became the face of Independence Day.
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