A quarter of a century on, Independence Day is still a much loved sci-fi blockbuster, and one that pretty much stands up with its spectacular scenes of alien invasion and worldwide devastation. It was one of those movies that just seemed to hit all the right notes, with a cast that were perfectly keyed into their roles including Will Smith as Steven Hiller in the lead. However, while Smith's performance is no doubt one of the reasons for the movie's success, it seems that at the time he almost didn't make the cut thanks to doubts about casting a black actor in the lead role.

While many things have changed over the last two decades in relation to equality and the casting of black and Asian actors in particular, back when Independence Day was being cast, there was a strong belief that the casting of someone like Smith in the movie would lead to the movie not doing as well as it might in foreign markets. The Hollywood Reporter published a special piece on the movie celebrating Independence Day's 25th anniversary, which included comments by director Roland Emmerich and writer/producer Dean Devlin, in which the issues around casting were mentioned.

"Ethan Hawke was on our list too, but I thought at that time he was too young. It was pretty clear it had to be Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum," Emmerich said. "That was the combo we thought. The studio said, 'No, we don't like Will Smith. He's unproven. He doesn't work in international [markets].'"

"They said, 'You cast a Black guy in this part, you're going to kill foreign [box office],'" Devlin added. "Our argument was, 'Well, the movie is about space aliens. It's going to do fine foreign.' It was a big war, and Roland really stood up for [Smith] - and we ultimately won that war."

It appears that Emmerich and Devlin were not the only ones fighting Smith's corner. As well as the creative team going as far as threatening to move studios if they were not allowed to move the production on with their choice of lead, it appears that had 20th Century Fox not given in, Emmerich had another plan of how to get the movie made with the star he wanted.

"It was pretty shortly before the shoot and we still hadn't locked in Will and Jeff, I put my foot down. 'Universal people are calling every day, so give me these two actors or I move over there.' I don't think it would have been a possibility [to actually move studios], but it was a great threat."

While it is clear now that Smith was definitely the right man for the job, and the huge box office takings proved that Emmerich and Devlin had been right to stand by their initial choice, the conversation highlights how attitudes have changed over the years. The success of the film not only launched the eventual sequel, Independence Day: Resurgence, but has given rise to discussions of a possible television continuation of the story.

For many, the 1990s seemed to offer up many opportunities to black actors, with the likes of Samuel L Jackson and Smith himself appearing in numerous hits through the decade. It appears though that behind the scenes, there were still a lot of issues to be ironed out of the industry - something that only in recent years seems to be truly moving forward in a positive way. This news originally came to us from THR.