Will Smith Was Close To Losing ‘Independence Day’ Role Due To Racial Bias

Hollywood legend Will Smith has overcome a lot of adversities in his life, which include his time as an African American man in Hollywood. Undoubtedly, he has encountered several racist people in his lifetime and it is likely Will Smith continue to face racism.

Will Smith is famous for acting in films such as Independence Day, Bad Boy and many more. However, there is no doubt that his role in Independence Day is what truly propelled him to the top of Hollywood as he became an international superstar. Now it seems there was a chance he wasn’t even going to be cast in the film at all.

While speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the film’s director Roland Emmerich stated that 20th Century Fox believed that casting a black man such as Will Smith would have hurt the film’s success at the box office. Emmerich fought tooth and nail to have Smith cast in the film.

“They said, ‘You cast a Black guy in this part, you’re going to kill foreign [box office]. “Our argument was, ‘Well, the movie is about space aliens. It’s going to do fine foreign.’ It was a big war, and Roland really stood up for [Smith] — and we ultimately won that war.”

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We are certainly thankful that Will Smith got to star in Independence Day as it remains one of his best films and many fans simply can’t see anyone but him acting in it.