Earlier this summer, “White House Down” director Roland Emmerich said that Will Smith would most likely not be back for “Independence Day 2,” the big budget sequel to his beloved sci-fi flick. But what a difference a few months and a notoriously costly flop make. Now Emmerich has said that Smith might return for the sequel as the cigar-chomping pilot from the original film and not, say, his twin brother. Anyone else now keenly excited about “Independence Day 2: The Legend of Steve Hiller’s Gold?”
Digital Spy caught up with the filmmaker while the director was promoting “White House Down” in England, and he said, “It changes every month. I sometimes say ‘No, Will Smith will not be in it,’ because he didn’t want to do it before but now we have a meeting planned where we want to talk about it again.” Sounds like Smith, after the critical and financial drubbing he got on this summer’s “After Earth,” is looking for another surefire hit, and a sequel to “Independence Day” would definitely deliver in that department.
What’s more, in the same interview, Emmerich said that the delivery date of the sequel is looking more like 2016, even though Fox had already announced a July 3, 2015 release date for the film (which will once again star Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman because, honestly, what else have they got going on). We imagine that both the technical requirements of a movie of that scale, plus the nagging script issues, which are currently being ironed out by “White House Down” scribe Jamie Vanderbilt, will probably take some time.
Gee, catty much? I get that sometimes snark is warranted, but ragging on Jeff Goldblum who is probably doing just fine as is Bill Pullman who also has had his successes is unnecessary. What I find AMAZING about the film industry today is that major studios are producing these costly films and then skimping on important factors like good writing, proper blocking, good editing, and good promotion. Then they complain about how this movie or that movie didn't do well. That makes no sense. At all.