When Independence Day co-writer/producer Dean Devlin first envisioned the alien invasion blockbuster, he had a very different idea of who should play the president: Kevin Spacey.

Loading

Devlin and Spacey had been friends in high school, according to The Hollywood Reporter , and Spacey was having a difficult time landing lead roles. Devlin wrote the film with the intention that he would play the role of President Thomas Whitmore. The studio balked at the idea, though, forcing Devlin to rewrite the role for Bill Pullman."We literally had an argument," Devlin said, "and the executive, who's no longer there, said he just didn't think Kevin Spacey was a movie star."That executive was wrong, of course, as only a few years later Spacey was playing major roles in The Usual Suspects, L.A. Confidential, and American Beauty. Independence Day may have been a very different movie without Pullman as a young POTUS doubling as a hotshot pilot, but Spacey at least got to walk the streets of Washington D.C. eventually -- as the slimy and ambitious Francis Underwood in the Netflix series House of Cards.

Steve Watts is a freelance writer who really would've liked to see Spacey give that rousing speech with Frank Underwood's southern drawl. You can read more of his keen insights by following him on Twitter and IGN