BACK TO BACK ID4 SEQUELS - WILL SMITH LOCKED?

[JumpinJack AJ]

Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

Please have this fall flat on its face in pre-production so that the legacy of the legendary film isn't tainted.

[Ale]

Roland Emmerich Says Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman Will Return for 'Independence Day 2'

http://www.movies.com/movie-news/independence-day-2-jeff-goldblum-bill-pullman/12648

[Ale]

Interesting interview with Roland Emmerich:

Where did this "Independence Day" sequel come from all of a sudden last week?

Nothing comes out of nowhere in a director's life. I've been talking about an "Independence Day" sequel since we made this movie. And I always said, "Nah, there's no sequel possible." At one point I wrote -- with Dean Devlin -- a script, which we got money for. And then when we read it ourselves, we said, "Let's give the money back." Then, when I did "2012," I realized all of a sudden, "Oh my God, what can you do now with computers?" You can create water and fire -- breaking apart buildings -- it's just a new world out there. All of a sudden, it popped in my mind.

Aside from the effects, was there a story that you liked?

That, too. Because of that, a great idea of expanding "Independence Day" to more like -- if you want to do a sequel, the studio doesn't only want to have another film. They want to have a franchise. If you want to create a franchise, which "Independence Day" could be, then you have to expand the mythology behind it. Why did the aliens come? What does their culture look like? What does that mean? And I had a couple of really, really good ideas with Dean together ... then, like it was in the first movie when we talked about that idea, after three days, the whole script was roughly together -- and the same thing happened again. And I realized now it's time to do it.

Will it start 19 years later?

Yes. It's totally a parallel universe. That's all that I'm saying.

You've already said that Will Smith won't be back. I'm assuming there was some contact with him?

It's a very simple thing. We gave him our very first script and he liked it very much. He said, "Look, I don't want to go there anymore because I was a different person than I am now. And I have so many other projects that I want to do." At that time he wanted to make two movies at the same time. Then, naturally, his demands were-- I would say, I have to go down with my demands, too, because I don't own this. The studio owns this. And he was just saying "No, I don't care, this is what I want," and that's it. Then I kind of thought, This will never happen. A lot of my friends said, "You don't need Will. I would go watch it without Will."

It wasn't his movie before. It was an ensemble.

It was an ensemble piece.

He wasn't a big star before "Independence Day."

No. We had to fight for him. Fox was not so happy that we took him in this part.

They didn't want him?

No, no. They would have cast other actors. But it always happens like that. It's interesting, because it became a much bigger movie since we know Will is not in there.

Is that why it's supposed to be two more movies?

No. We are just going to do the next one and see what happens. We could theoretically go on and on and on -- because there's a bigger mythology to it. There's a bigger theme to it and that for me is more exciting than one character. And I will cast a couple of actors who I really like, you know what I mean? I'm always a fan of certain people.

It's frustrating that Will Smith turned you down and turned down a movie like "Django Unchained."

He turned "Django Unchained" down. I couldn't believe it.

Did that surprise you?

Totally. Who doesn't want to work with Tarantino?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/26/roland-emmerich-white-house-down_n_3500037.html

Edited June 26, 2013 by Ale

[KevTastic]

Looking back. ID4 isn't as memorable and a large staple in Film history as i think people make it out to be. Films like that date easily, and a lot of it is just quite cheesy. I expect a barrage of hate from this response.

[JumpinJack AJ]

Sure, some of it is dated; that's the part of the charm of well-loved movies. In the US, it IS a huge staple. It's a modern classic that reached all creeds as an unforgettable Summer blockbuster.

That being said, I'll say what I've said 100 times...there's NO REASON to revisit this and tarnish legacy with a sequel just to make some money. It's a dumb idea on all levels. Period.

Edited June 29, 2013 by JumpinJack AJ

[Simon Lerkot Berglind]

I agree... and it is pretty worrying. A lot of actors go that same road; they get really big for ten-fifteen years and consider themselves immortal and then waste their careers by megalomaniac acts or ideas. Will is doing a lot of that now:

* Some weird family child labor spawning useless junk in the music and movie industry. People think it's cute now, but personally I find it both strange and bad. I see a future where their careers are ruined forever because they will always be associated with Will whatever they do.

* A lot of **** movies. Hancock? Please. I Am Legend... pfft. And now After Earth... horrible. MiB3 was alright. And while it only takes three or four movies to build a reputation and get people to attend the cinemas, it takes more time to kill off that career but I could see it happening. At a certain point people will get tired of it.

* His choice of movies... I mean... it's either sequels or the desperate hunt for Academy Awards each time and while Will is too good to just be some kind of money cow to the movie companies, he can't really pull off the really complex, earthly characters since he seems to be increasingly disconnected from reality.

And two straight ID4 sequels would remove a lot of the hard work he's put down over the years,,, I think a lot of people would lose whatever respect they have unless the movies are really good... which I seriously doubt they will be. The spaceship was blown up, and it was blown up before District 9 and before all of these end of the world movies became the thang. It was blown up before 9/11. If the movie came out today, it would have zero "oh ****", "what if that happened for real?" factor.

My main issue with it though is that the idea behind ID4 sequels would be very obvious and transparent; it's about a movie company making money and about an actor being afraid of losing his audience...its basically Die Hard 4.

[Radewart]

Though it may make lots of money, I have no hope of a sequel to ID4 being any good. Roland Emmerich hasn't made anything decent since "Day After Tomorrow", so I'm glad Will is sitting this one out. Will still needs to work with other top notch actors for better directors.

[Silver Tiger]

My problem is that Emmerich has pretty much proven himself to be a one-trick pony. Every movie he makes is essentially a disaster movie these days. I liked ID4 and The Patriot. Everything else has pretty much been a ho-hum rehash of familiar plot lines and forgettable characters. I won't shut the movie down completely before I see it but ID4 had this great sense of victory to it. Who knows though? Maybe it'll turn out okay.

[Ale]

Now Roland Emmerich says that Will could be in the sequel. Never ending story..

http://entretenimiento.terra.cl/cine/roland-emmerich-will-smith-podria-estar-en-la-secuela-de-independence-day,a5076d91670e0410VgnCLD2000000ec6eb0aRCRD.html

Edited September 4, 2013 by Ale

[Ale]

Video:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/news/a512964/will-smith-back-in-talks-to-star-in-independence-day-sequel.html

[Simon Lerkot Berglind]

I think Will would do it if he got paid properly. After all, he has made some not-so-beautiful moves at the smell of money before; guess it's the Hollywood way. I wonder what he means when he says that he's a different person now. I dont hope his interest in that alien lizard-God religion has made him reluctant of space invasion movies, lol.

I have to say that when thinking about this further, there could be good ways for a decent sequel, but with Emmerich? It's not going to be interesting, thoughtful or original.

And in the light of that tech talk and Kev's comment "Looking back. ID4 isn't as memorable and a large staple in Film history as i think people make it out to be. Films like that date easily, and a lot of it is just quite cheesy. I expect a barrage of hate from this response", I'd say I have to agree but with one addition; as a space movie from the (mainly) analogue era of film, its a technical masterpiece.

[Ale]

Michael B. Jordan Eyed to Star in ‘Independence Day’ Sequel (Exclusive)

http://www.thewrap.com/michael-b-jordan-in-contention-to-star-in-independence-day-sequel-exclusive/

[Ale]

Roland Emmerich Says There's Two 'Independence Day 2' Scripts, One With Will Smith & One Without

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/roland-emmerich-says-two-versions-of-the-independence-day-2-script-have-been-written-one-with-will-smith-and-one-without-20131024

[JumpinJack AJ]

Ha, if there are two scripts, one has to wonder what the quality of EITHER of them is.

[Ale]

‘Independence Day 2′ Pushed Back a Year to July 1, 2016

Sequel will open 20 years after original

http://variety.com/2013/film/news/independence-day-2-pushed-back-a-year-to-july-1-2016-1200824493/

Edited November 13, 2013 by Ale