Why Will Smith Choose Suicide Squad Over Independence Day: Resurgence

Will Smith chose Suicide Squad over Independence Day: Resurgence because he’s always looking for something new

Will Smith is one of the biggest movie stars in the world. And arguably the kickstart to his movie career was starring in the original Independence Day movie 20 years ago. So when a sequel was finally being made, you would think Smith would want to go back to the franchise that made him a big star. Heck, he’s working on Bad Boys III right now, so why not go back to Independence Day?

Instead, Will Smith went for a very unconventional role for the big screen actor. As part of an all-bad guy ensemble for DC’s supervillain team movie Suicide Squad. Why did Smith chose this unproven somewhat obscure comic book property over a known quantity like Independence Day? Smith explained to Entertainment Weekly, saying he wants to “boldly go to new creation”:

"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,” Smith said. “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."

Next: Justice League 2 Pushed Back To Make Room For Batman

The choice clearly paid off. Independence Day: Resurgence was a huge dud this Summer. Suicide Squad wasn’t a critical success, but it was the top-grossing film of Smith’s career to date and one of the top films of this Summer. Smith also got raves for his performance as Deadshot. His comments make one wonder if Smith would want to do another movie as Deadshot, but I bet as long as it was something interesting, he’d be willing to reprise the role…