10 Things You Didn’t Know About Independence Day

Jul 4, 2019 Updated: July 4th, 2019

1. 'That Smell' Was Actually A Real-Life Stink

And finally, to finish with an extra fun one, here's a story all about how Will Smith channelled some real-life rage during Independence Day's shoot. His anger is visible on screen in the hilarious moment when his character Captain Hillier yells and "what the hell is that smell?!" before kicking the living s*** out of an unconscious alien.

This line actually wasn't in the script at all, and was a pure on-the-spot slice of improvisational inspiration from Smith. There really was a stink during filming, due to the nearby Great Salt Lake in Utah. There's often a bit of a pong around there because of the dead brine shrimp at the bottom of the lake, but nobody told Will Smith by the sounds of it.

Presumably fed up with the stench, as well as filming scenes on his own and lugging a heavy parachute around, Smith snapped and shouted about the smell while the cameras were rolling. The line really works for his character and provides a big laugh after a very serious sequence, so of course Roland Emmerich left it in.