Recently, actor Will Smith recalled the time when Steven Spielberg convinced him to star in 1997’s Men in Black after he turned it down. Spielberg, who was the executive producer of the movie, invited Smith to his house and said some “cold” words that convinced Smith to star in the movie.

Before Smith, there was another Hollywood star that also refused to star in Spielberg’s movie, however, Spielberg couldn’t convince this legend. While looking for an actor for the role of Roy Neary in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Spielberg initially planned to hire someone else, but that didn’t work out and ultimately, actor Richard Dreyfuss played the role.

This Hollywood legend refused to star in Steven Spielberg’s movie

Jack Nicholson
Director Steven Spielberg initially thought that actor Jack Nicholson is perfect for the role of Roy Neary in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) as Spielberg was a huge fan of Nicholson’s performance in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975). However, Nicholson refused to star in the movie.

The reason was not officially stated by Nicholson, but sources claimed that he didn’t want his performance to be “upstaged” with visual effects. Looking back at it, Nicholson’s decision wasn’t a blunder as his career was peaking and he had no issues finding work.

Richard Dreyfuss then convinced Steven Spielberg to cast him

Steven Spielberg and Richard Dreyfuss
With Nicholson out of the picture, the hunt continued. At the time, Steven Spielberg was working with Richard Dreyfuss on Jaws (1975), and Dreyfuss heard that Spielberg is looking for an actor for his next movie so he decided to convince Spielberg to hire him.

In the end, Dreyfuss played the role and Close Encounters of the Third Kind received positive reviews, becoming a worldwide success. It earned around $308 million at the global box office on a production budget of $20 million.

Steven Spielberg convinced Will Smith to star in Men in Black

Steven Spielberg and Will Smith
Back in the 1990s, when Will Smith was growing as a Hollywood star, he was offered a role in 1997’s Men in Black, however, the actor was reluctant to star in it. On the latest episode of Kevin Hart’s Hart to Heart talk show, the actor said,
“In the heyday, the 10 movies I made at the top of my career, JL [James Lassiter] was choosing the films. He just had an eye. I didn’t want to make Pursuit of Happyness. I didn’t want to make Ali and JL picked Men in Black. I kind of understood Men in Black a little bit but I didn’t want to make Men in Black. That was the next year after Independence Day. So I didn’t want to make two alien movies back to back.”
Steven Spielberg, who owned Amblin, the company that made the franchise, was not happy when he found out Smith has declined. Smith further revealed that Spielberg then sent him a helicopter,
“Steven Spielberg sent a helicopter for me to talk to me. I was in New York. It landed at his house. And, like, he had me at hello and it was the first time I ever had lemonade with carbonated water. You can’t say no to that. He said the coldest s**t. He said ‘Tell me why you don’t want to make my movie…’ and he was the producer. And he put the ellipsis at the end, it was the dot, dot, dot. If he had continued, he would have said, ‘Joker, you know I made Jaws, right? You know I made E.T.’”
Will Smith eventually agreed to play the role of Agent J in Men in Black which made him a household name around the world.