A closer look
Executive producer Steven Spielberg actually had to send a private helicopter to Will Smith's house just to convince the fresh-faced actor to star in the 1997 sci-fi comedy Men in Black, largely because Smith originally rejected the part of Agent J out of fear he would be typecast as the alien movie guy right after finishing Independence Day, completely ignoring the fact that becoming the alien movie guy was going to make him impossibly rich; it takes a very special kind of nineties celebrity hubris to make Steven Spielberg deploy advanced aviation tactics just to beg you to shoot rubbery extraterrestrials with a laser gun, but apparently, that is exactly what is required to secure a legendary blockbuster franchise and a ridiculously catchy tie-in hip-hop music video
