How Steven Spielberg convinced Will Smith take on ‘Men in Black’
One of Will Smith’s most iconic roles is as Agent J in the science fiction action comedy Men and Black films, which began with the 1997 effort directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and written by Ed Solomon.
Smith would go on to perform as J several times in the Men in Black franchise opposite Agent K actor Tommy Lee Jones. However, Smith has recently admitted that Steven Spielberg, who helped produce the movie, had to convince the actor to take the job.
“I kinda understood Men in Black a little bit, but I didn’t want to Men in Black, that was the next year after Independence Day [sic],” Smith recently told Kevin Hart. So I didn’t want to make two alien movies back to back.”
When Hart asked how Smith was convinced, the actor replied, “Steven Spielberg sent a helicopter for me; to talk to me. It landed at his house, and he had me at ‘Hello’. It was the first time I’d ever had lemonade with carbonated water. You can’t say no to that.”
Smith continued, “He flew me in, and he said the coldest shit. He said, ‘Tell me why you don’t want to make my movie.’ He put the ellipsis at the end. ‘Tell me why you don’t want to make my movie’. It was the dot, dot, dot…”
Spielberg then showed Smith all the posters from his former blockbusters, which began to twist the actor’s arm, even though he still had concerns about being “the alien guy”, by doing two science fiction films back to back.
But Spielberg’s open-ended question pretty much forced Smith’s hand, and he took the job. Check out the trailer for 1997’s Men in Black below.
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