Will Smith & Tommy Lee Jones star in 'Men in Black.'

Jet, June 23, 1997

Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones have teamed up as government agents charged with regulating the activities of aliens on planet Earth in the sci-fi-adventure comedy Men in Black.

The film is Smith's second film in as many years where he helps protect the universe from alien critters. In last year's megahit Independence Day, he was a heroic pilot who helped fight off attacking aliens.

In his latest film, Smith is J, a former New York Police Department detective who has been teamed up with Agent K (Jones) to work at keeping aliens and people separate. One of their missions is to make sure people aren't aware of the existence of the aliens.

The two work at an agency named MiB. They work in complete secrecy" and, of course, wear black. Once the odd duo is teamed up, they find themselves immersed in the investigation of several mysterious deaths of aliens.

"J is the kind of character who enjoys life and experiencing new things," Smith said. "He also thinks he's the smartest person in the world, so becoming an MiB is the ultimate challenge. Adapting to this new world really drives this character, and the same thing that made him want to be a police officer, to be the guy who serves and protects, is now what makes him want to join the ultimate police force."

Academy Award-winner Jones, who has often been cast in very dramatic roles, committed to doing the high-tech comedy early. "I liked the story and the idea of doing a science fiction movie that had wonderful possibilities for a lot of fun and adventure." He went on to describe the characters he and Smith play by saying: "The Men in Black are not supposed to have any conventional human contacts, no wives or family, because they're supposed to be entirely anonymous. The idea is that we keep all this alien traffic through our little backwater border town of a planet secret from the melodramatic, comic book kind of way. But it's also a really cool life."

The partners couldn't be more different. Besides one being Black and the other White, J and K are almost from different planets.

Smith explained the differences by saying: "J looks at K as kind of a grump. You know, it's like, `Dude, lighten up. I understand we have a job to do, but can't we enjoy doing it, just a little bit?'"

When the two investigate the death of an alien, their job becomes very, very sticky. "When an alien gets killed, the authorities, thinking it's human, of course, send it to the morgue where Dr. Laurel Weaver (Linda Fiorentino) finds out ifs some bizarre creature," Smith explained. "Then we, of course, have to come in to clean up and cover up and neuralyze her (erase her memory of what she's seen) with this flashy thing. We do it so much throughout the movie, it becomes a running joke."

Fiorentino said the real joke "is that Laurel actually knows more than these guys do, but because they keep neuralyzing her, she forgets everything she's seen."

The film also features Vincent D'Onofrio as Edgar, the earth civilian whose skin becomes the property of one of the most vicious aliens in the universe. Other cast members include Rip Torn, Tony Shalhoub and Siobhan Fallon.

The film is based on Lower Cunningham's comic book series and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld.

There has been much speculation about how Smith could follow up his performance in Independence Day, a film that raked in more than $300 million last summer.

Many critics suggest that his follow-up effort, Men in Black, could be as big a hit.