Will Smith Won’t Be Saving the World In Independence Day Sequel

Steve Barton   |  

Jun 25, 2013

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Could there have been anyone better than Will Smith’s Captain Steven Hiller to deliver the final death blow to the invading alien horde in the classic film Independence Day? Filmmakers had better hope so because they’ve confirmed that Smith won’t be called to duty again.

In a New York Daily News article, the film’s director, Roland Emmerich, spoke about not bringing back Smith for Independence Day 2. ” “Will Smith cannot come back because he’s too expensive, but he’d also be too much of a marquee name,” Emmerich said. “It would be too much. We have like maybe half of the people that you would know from the first film [in the script], and the other half are people who are new.” Emmerich is currently promoting his latest film, White House Down.

As for the current progress on the project, screenwriter James Vanderbilt (The Amazing Spider-Man, Zodiac) is polishing the original script by Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin. “We’re not doing a total reboot; we’re doing something that’s totally unusual,” said Emmerich. The 20th Century Fox produced film is scheduled for a July 3, 2015, release. It’s being planned as the first part of a two-film story tentatively entitled ID Forever: Part 1 and Part 2.

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