Will Smith on Why He Chose Suicide Squad Over Independence Day 2

Actor Will Smith has explained why he was drawn to Suicide Squad over Independence Day: Resurgence. In a Facebook interview for his newest movie, Collateral Beauty, Smith said he wanted to look to the future instead of the past when deciding which project to pursue.

"I had the two screenplays in front of me for the Independence Day 2 and for Suicide Squad. I had to choose between the two of those," Smith said, as reported by Entertainment Weekly.

"Even the choice of going to Suicide Squad--nothing about the qualities of the movie--but the choice of trying to go forward versus clinging and clawing backwards. I do want to aggressively go forward and do new things and create and hopefully be able to stumble upon a new heyday."

Smith's Independence Day character, Captain Steven Hiller, is one of the actor's most famous and recognizable characters. Resurgence's promotional website explains that Hiller died as a result of an "unknown malfunction during the test flight of the first Alien Hybrid Fighter..."

Smith previously spoke about learning Hiller's fate.

"I was working on Suicide Squad during that time. [Director] Roland [Emmerich] and I had talked about it. The trailer looks really cool. I'm going to be sitting around with tears in my eyes when that one comes out. It was terrible when I found out my character died," he said.

Do you think Smith made the right call going with Suicide Squad over Independence Day? Let us know in the comments below!