Will Smith explains why he chose Suicide Squad over Independence Day 2
'I want to aggressively go forward and do new things'
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Your support makes all the difference.Every now and then in an actor's life, a decision is presented to them whereby they will have to turn down something they want to do in favour of something else they really want to do.
Will Smith experienced just that last year when scheduling conflicts kept him from starring in both Independence Day: Resurgence - the follow-up to 1996 film Independence Day - and DC villain mashup Suicide Squad.
The latter won his vote, however, he's now revealed to Entertainment Weekly the exact reason why he chose to ditch the disaster sequel.
The actor said:
“I had the two screenplays in front of me for the Independence Day 2 and for Suicide Squad. I had to choose between the two of those. Even the choice of going to Suicide Squad - nothing about the qualities of the movie - but the choice of trying to go forward versus clinging and clawing backwards. I do want to aggressively go forward and do new things and create and hopefully be able to stumble upon a new heyday.”
While Suicide Squad - in which he played Deadshot - may not have been the showstopper fans were hoping for, it's easy to see Smith's point; shunning an unecessary sequel in favour of something that, on paper at least, looked like a winner was probably the right move.
A Suicide Squad spin-off is in the works focused on the character of Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and Jared Leto's Joker; the film has also received an extended cut, a trailer for which you can watch below.
Smith's upcoming credits include Collateral Beauty, Netflix film Bright and, er, not one but two Bad Boys sequels.
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