Talking about his career, Will Smith explained how Steven Spielberg managed to convince him to make Men in Black.
Will Smith it turned out that this Steven Spielberg persuade him to turn Men in Black and the director excelled in the enterprise in a very special way.
The actor took part in the new edition of the Heart to Heart podcast, telling how he chose roles in the past.
Too many aliens in Will’s career
James Lassiter, the star’s former manager and business partner, was instrumental in Will Smith’s career. The actor said:JL chose films, 10 feature films that I made at the best moment of my career, thanks to him.“. Will added: “I didn’t want to make The Pursuit of Happyness. I didn’t mean to shoot Eli… And JL chose the Men in Black. I kind of understood the film, but I didn’t want to act in it“.
In fact, Smith had just filmed Independence Day and didn’t want to do two alien movies with such a close release.
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The intervention of the master of cinema
However, Steven Spielberg, brought in as the film’s producer, was determined to bring him on: “He sent a helicopter for me. I was in New York. To talk to me… He brought me to his house. And he immediately convinced me … And for the first time I drank lemonade with sparkling water. You can’t say no“.
Smith recalled:He told me, “Explain to me why you don’t want to be in my film.” And he was a producerWill believes that if he had to continue his speech, the director would remind him of some of his hits, such as “Jaws” or “Alien”, to repeat that it was a bad choice on his part, but, fortunately, he did not had to .