In a recent interview promoting the US home entertainment release of WHITE HOUSE DOWN, master of disaster director Roland Emmerich was asked about the progress of his much-anticipated sci-fi sequel INDEPENDENCE DAY 2 and the possibility of a shot back-to-back threequel. He’s a filmmaker in desperate need of a hit following the commercial box-office failure of the actioner led by Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx and his previous mega-budgeted historical drama ANONYMOUS. He confirmed it was:
A daily battle… The budget, the schedules, the actors. But it’s looking good.
While he’d previously claimed original star Will Smith wouldn’t be asked to return due to budgetary restraints, Emmerich let slip two alternative scripts have been written. One to accommodate Smith’s character and one without – both by penned by Jamie Vanderbilt. Like Emmerich, Smith too needs to get his career back on track after the car-crash that was AFTER EARTH. Personally, I expect they’ll make a deal and Smith will drop his fee, which was thought to be the stumbling block. Also, the German-born filmmaker has scrapped plans for back-to-back sequels:
I thought about spending four years of my life on one movie and I didn’t want to turn into something from the movie. It’s a movie about aliens, I don’t want to turn into an alien.
Expected to return from the first 1997 hit are Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman, with Michael B. Jordan rumoured for a role as the grown-up adoptive son of Smith. Other than that, expect lots of jaw-dropping special-effects, alien madness and cheesy, fist-pumping speeches… Oh yes, and a rebuilt White House destroyed. It’s slated to hit theatres on 3rd July 2015.
Source: Indiewire
