Director Roland Emmerich confirms Smith's absence from the follow-up to the 1996 film, and says that there is now only one sequel to put focus on.
- Jun 24, 2013
AceShowbiz - Fox's "Independence Day" sequel, tentatively titled "ID Forever Part 1", will not stage a reunion between Roland Emmerich and Will Smith. The German filmmaker, who also served behind the lens for "The Day After Tomorrow" and "2012", has confirmed to NY Daily News that Jaden Smith's father will not return.
"Will Smith cannot come back because he's too expensive, but he'd also be too much of a marquee name," Emmerich said while promoting his latest film, "White House Down". "We have like maybe half of the people that you would know from the first film [in the script] and the other half people who are new."
Emmerich has additionally revealed that things might not go as planned. Speaking to Collider, the 57-year-old helmer said that his current plan would be to make one sequel instead of two. "I think they decided to only do one first," he told the site, seemingly hinting at Fox execs' decision to see how well the first one performs at the box office before giving a go to the next sequel.
As of now, scribe James Vanderbilt is still busy polishing existing script by Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin. "We're not doing a total reboot, we're doing something that's totally unusual," Emmerich said as quoted by NY Daily News. "I think some aliens will be back."
Only Bill Pullman has been confirmed to reprise his role as Thomas J. Whitmore, now former President of the United States. "Independence Day 2" is slated for a July 3, 2015 release in the U.S.
