How Men In Black director lied to cast Will Smith
By Tribute on July 5, 2017 | 4 Comments
The sci-fi blockbuster Men in Black was undoubtedly one of the biggest films to propel Will Smith‘s career.
Starring Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as Agents J and K, MIB was a massive hit with audiences, grossing almost $600 million at the box office. It would be hard to imagine what the film would be like without the actor. However, the former “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” wasn’t initially considered for the role.
In a recent interview with Huffington Post, director Barry Sonnenfeld revealed that actor Chris O’Donnell (who had just starred in Batman Forever), was producer Steven Spielberg‘s first choice for one of the two lead roles. Barry wanted Will Smith, but the studio had the idea of pairing Chris O’Donnell with Clint Eastwood.
“Spielberg told me I had to go to dinner with Chris and convince Chris to be in the movie. But I knew I wanted Will Smith, so I told Chris that I wasn’t a very good director and I didn’t think the script was very good and if he had any other options he shouldn’t do Men in Black. He let it be known the next day that he was not interested.”
Although you can probably guess what Chris O’Donnell thinks of this, you have to admit it paid off for Sonnenfeld. Will Smith was cast, and Men In Black would kick-start a new franchise. Without Will and Tommy, MIB would probably not have been as big of a success as it was.
What do you think about what the director did? Tell us below! ~Brenden Zerihun
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KINDA SUCKS FOR CHRIS ODONNELL WHOM I LOVE IN NCIS LOS ANGELES, AND HE OWNS THE ROLE OF G CALLEN. BUT HUGE BUCKS IN THE MEN IN BLACK FRANCHISE. I GUESS IT WASNT A BAD LIE OVERALL. SURE CHRIS DOESNT AGREE BUT…WATER UNDER TH BRIDGE NOW!!
WILL N TOMMY ARE LEGENDARY NOW!!
SKY
They say only 2 people know if a movie will be a hit and one is God, the other is Spielberg….but look, even Spielberg makes mistakes. 🙂
I hope Will makes another one. Still so much they could do with this franchise. I loved the last one. Josh Brolin was amazing at playing a young Tommy Lee Jones. I was entertained from start to finish. More please…..
I think they should do one more and this time bring in Eastwood and Chris O’Donnell to go alongside both Brolin smith and jones