19 years ago today, the sci-fi action-comedy Men in Black opened in theaters across the United States, starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones.
The film is based on a comic book from the early ‘90s, also called The Men in Black, written by Lowell Cunningham. The comic version had a slightly darker tone, which director Barry Sonnenfeld, producer Steven Spielberg, and screenwriter Ed Solomon changed to fit a more fun action-comedy film.
Big part of the film’s success was having the opposite characters of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, as Tommy was the serious Agent K, while Smith played the funny, energetic Agent J.
Smith initially didn’t want to star in the film because he didn’t wish to become known for alien and sci-fi movies, he said. ” 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.”
When Spielberg learned of Smith’s hesitation, he sent him a helicopter to bring him to a meeting at Spielberg’s house. Smith talked about that in Kevin Hart’s talk show, “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.”
Five months into the shoot, Sonnenfeld decided that the original ending was unexciting and lacking the action that the rest of the film had. Five replacements were discussed, one of these had Laurel Weaver being neuralyzed and K remaining an agent. Eventually they agreed on having the Bug eat Agent K, Tommy Lee Jones, and fight Agent J, Smith. They also developed the Bug with a computer-generated one that looked more like a cockroach.
Men in Black was a box-office success, grossing more than $589.4 million worldwide and becoming the third-highest-grossing film of 1997, It won for Best Makeup and was also nominated for Best Art Direction and Best Original Score at the 70th Academy Awards.
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