Will Smith Recalls When Steven Spielberg ‘Sent a Helicopter’ to Pitch Original ‘Men in Black’ Movie
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"It was the first time I ever had lemonade with carbonated water... You can’t say no to that," Smith said
Ruby Wallau/Getty Images; Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Steven Spielberg went to great heights to get Will Smith to star in Men in Black.
The King Richard actor, 54, revealed on the latest episode of Kevin Hart’s Hart to Heart show on Peacock that he initially didn't consider making Men in Black because he didn’t want to make two alien movies “back to back” (he had just finished filming Independence Day) — but the famous director was very convincing.
“Steven Spielberg sent a helicopter for me,” Smith recalled to a disbelieving Hart. “I was in New York. [He sent it] to talk to me. It landed at his house, and he had me at hello.”
“Yeah, you can’t say no after you get off the helicopter,” Hart chimed in.
“[I] get off the helicopter at his house, and it was the first time I ever had lemonade with carbonated water,” Smith added. “You can’t say no to that.”
He then described his conversation with Spielberg, who had been producing the film, recalling the Oscar-winning director driving a hard bargain.
“He said the coldest s—,” Smith noted. “He said, ‘Tell me, tell me why you don’t want to make my movie… And he put the ellipsis at the end, it was the dot, dot, dot ‘Tell me why you don’t want to make my movie?’”
“If he had continued, he would have said, ‘Joker, you know I made Jaws, right? You know I made E.T.'”
The actor eventually said yes and took on the role of Agent J in Men in Black and its two subsequent sequels Men in Black 2 (2002) and Men in Black 3 (2012) alongside Tommy Lee Jones.
Related: Will Smith Weighs in on SAG-AFTRA Strike: 'It's a Pivotal Moment for Our Profession'
Smith attributed most of his success to his team behind him, saying, “You cannot build a career… And you probably can’t do much of anything in this life at a high level without a rock solid team.”
“I knew I had to be the tip of the spear in discipline. I knew I had to be the tip of the spear in terms of direction,” he noted. “But I always knew that I needed my squad.”
The interview aired a week after Smith shared his support for the SAG-AFTRA strike on Instagram.
Alongside a photo of himself posing with students in an acting class, he wrote, “As some of yall mighta heard, my guild @SAGAFTRA are on strike along with our writer colleagues in the WGA. it’s a pivotal moment for our profession.”
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The Emancipation star thanked his acting teacher Aaron Speiser — whom he fondly referred to as “coach” — and noted that he recently met Speiser’s class full of “talented next generation of actors.”
He continued, “I’m grateful to coach for continuing to support these talented hopefuls in this art form that I love and have been lucky enough to work in for three decades of my life! Thanks, COACH!”
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