“I literally throw it out onto the Texas highway”: Ethan Hawke Lost $5M Salary After Finding $817M Movie Script “Stupid” That Launched Will Smith as Hollywood’s Leading Man

Ethan Hawke has done a great number of iconic roles that have benefitted his career greatly. Whether it is in Moon Knight or The Black Phone, he always manages to bring out his best no matter the character. However, he is also on the list of various actors who had given up on some of the most legendary movies because they thought it wasn’t interesting enough for them.

A movie that put Will Smith on the board and made him one of the greatest actors in Hollywood also happened to be a movie that was rejected by Hawke. Independence Day saw Smith as the lead role making everyone eye him more as a protagonist than as a side character. Hawke, however, found it boring and stupid.

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Ethan Hawke Found Independence Day Stupid

Ethan Hawke admitted that he was given the script for 1996’s Independence Day. He was not fond of the dialogue that was written in the script and how absurd it was for him. He was given the script beforehand because of his rising success.

“I’m reading [the script] to my buddy in the car. I’m like, ‘Isn’t this a bad line. “E.T. phone home.” That’s stupid.’ You know what I mean?” Hawke said. “And I’m going through it to the point where I literally throw it out onto the Texas highway.”

He was on a road trip and was so amused by the text before him that he was ready to throw the script away without a second thought. The movie was heavily successful and he regretted it profusely. He even admitted having missed an opportunity that could have benefitted his career dearly. His experience diminished even more after he figured out just how great the movie is. He saw the movie in theatres and knew instantly just how much he messed up by skipping on the script like that.

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Will Smith Got His Big Break With Independence Day

Ethan Hawke was only able to see the movie only once it was released. No doubt he was absolutely shocked to see how well it turned out. He immediately regretted not having picked the movie but he knew that Will Smith did an amazing job at that.

Everyone learned about just how great of an actor Smith is. More so, the world was astonished by how well he did the movie and knew instantly how great of an actor he is. Smith made it clear that if anyone wanted a leading actor, he was the top choice.

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Source: IndieWire