Later in the day, at 6:20pm on Channel 4, Independence Day will be shown on television. The legendary alien invasion movie is now recognized as one of the best action films of the ’90s, but before it hit the silver screen, Ethan Hawke hated it.
In 1995, 20th Century Fox was excited to bring Hawkeye the role of the film’s main star, Captain Steven Heller.
At that time in 1996, Hawke was a very successful actor in the film and television industry. He had recently released his reality movie in 1994, which was critically acclaimed, so he was the subject of a lot of attention in Hollywood.
But when the Independence Day script reached his desk, his arrogance got in the way.
“I’m a bee’s knees, right?” “I’m driving cross-country with a friend of mine, and I got my Independence Day script,” Hook recalled in 2018. He added that he was offered the lead role in the film before describing his young self as a “big shot”.
“There are, for example, dollar bonds attached to it [the script]”Hook recalled. But there was one problem – he absolutely hated what he read about the movie.
Hook remembers going to the movies after the summer with his girlfriend and a group of friends. It was Independence Day weekend, so naturally they all wanted to go see a Will Smith movie. Hawkeye reluctantly agreed, and what he saw collapsing in real time was devastating.
“We went in and it was sold out,” he recalls. Before adding that ET joke, he basically laughed at how he received a “standing standing ovation”. After the movie was over, he asked his girlfriend, “It wasn’t that good, was it?”
“It was really good,” Hook’s unnamed girlfriend responded.
No doubt he felt worse about his decision when he saw the film’s box office return.
Independence Day was made on a budget of $75 million but grossed over $815 million. Smith, the actor who eventually took on the character of Hawkeye, was paid $5 million.
However, the movie was not only loved by the masses. The film was also praised by critics. After becoming the second-highest-grossing film ever made (at the time), it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound, while winning the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
After 20 years, a sequel was released – Independence Day: Resurgence. Again, Hawke was not involved in the film’s production. And again, it was very successful at the box office. This time it starred Liam Hemsworth and grossed $389 million at the box office.
Independence Day is available to stream on Disney Plus now.
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