'Independence Day' Sequels: Will Smith to Reprise His Role as Captain Steve Hiller? [VIDEO]
Will Smith is in talks to reprise his role as Captain Steve Hiller in the upcoming sequels of Independence Day, director Roland Emmerich revealed in an interview with Digital Spy on Sept. 5.
Emmerich will be directing both the sequels, Independence Day Forever Part 1 and Part 2, the first of which is set for release in July 2015.
Emmerich is going back on his initial statement earlier this year, which confirmed that Smith will not be coming on board for the sequels.
"I sometimes say no, Will Smith will not be in it because he didn't want to do it at first. Now we have a meeting planned, we want to talk about it again. Anything can happen," Emmerich said in the interview
In an interview with the New York Daily in June, Emmerich had revealed that Smith -- who played the role of Captain Hiller in the original -- would not be joining the cast for the sequels.
"Will Smith can not come back because he's too expensive, but he'd also be too much of a marquee name," said Emmerich. "It would be too much."
"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," the German director added.
In a June interview with Digital Spy, Smith had also stated that he was not interested in doing blockbuster films anymore. "I think I'm going to start moving out of that and finding more danger in my artistic choices," Smith said.
It has been confirmed that Bill Pullman and Jeff Goldblum will be reprising their roles. Screenwriter James Vanderbilt (The Amazing Spider-Man, Zodiac) is working on the original script by Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin.
Watch Emmerich talk about the sequels:
