‘Men in Black’ at 25: How the Sci-Fi Hit Made Will Smith the Biggest Star of His Era

variety.com:

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaIf Steven Spielberg had his way, then “Men in Black” would have been a very important stepping stone in the career of…Chris O’Donnell.The superstar filmmaker, who was tasked with producing the sci-fi comedy that opened July 2, 1997, thought that the role of Agent J was tailor-made for the rising actor.

Although the idea of O’Donnell teaming up with Tommy Jones may seem ludicrous now, it made sense at the time. After all, O’Donnell’s star was at its zenith in the mid-1990s, propelled by buzzy turns in “Scent of a Woman” and “Mad Love,” and not yet brought crashing back to Earth by the disaster that was “Batman & Robin.”However, the film’s director Barry Sonnenfeld disagreed that the wholesome, hunky O’Donnell was right for the youthful agent.

Over a Spielberg-mandated dinner with O’Donnell in which he was intended to convince the actor to sign on, Sonnenfeld offered up a subversive pitch. ″I told Chris that I wasn’t a very good director and I didn’t think the script was very good and if he had any other options, he shouldn’t do ‘Men in Black,'” Sonnenfeld recalled to the Huffington Post in 2017.  “He let it be known the next day that he was not interested.”A deep dive into the Variety archives reveals that tapping the right person to don Agent J’s signature Ray Bans held up production on “Men in Black.” Jones, who would go on to play Agent K, the strait-laced government agent tasked with keeping tabs on the world’s secret alien population, had already been cast, but the film’s producers had yet to find their J.

In an Aug. 5, 1995 article, Variety reported that the movie “…which was to go before the cameras before the end of the year, still has no second lead.” Other bad ideas.