When the planes struck the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, director Barry Sonnenfeld was on the Sony studio lot in Los Angeles. As the gravity of the tragedy unfolded, Sonnenfeld—who grew up in Washington Heights and had family living in Chinatown—faced an immediate and delicate creative crisis. He was in the middle of production forMen in Black IIthe highly anticipated sequel to his 1997 blockbuster, which he described as “really a love letter to New York.”
A Shift in Vision
The original script for the sequel relied heavily on the Twin Towers as a central visual anchor. Sonnenfeld had intentionally selected the World Trade Center for the film’s climax, where the characters played by Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones were to face an alien antagonist and launch a space princess, portrayed by Rosario Dawson, back to her home planet. “I picked the World Trade Center on purpose because they almost looked like a magnet,” Sonnenfeld recalled. “As soon as the first one fell, I knew.”
The Erasure of Icons
The Twin Towers had long served as essential visual shorthand for New York City in cinema. They first appeared on screen during their early construction in the 1969 comedyThe Putney Swopeand were later featured in films likeThe French ConnectionandThe Hot Rock. By the time they were completed in 1973, they were instant icons. Following the attacks, however, their presence in media became a painful reminder of the national trauma. Sonnenfeld joined a wave of filmmakers and television producers who scrambled to remove the towers from their projects, including shows likeFriendsandSex and the Cityas well as films likeZoolanderand the initial teaser forSpider-Man.
Production Challenges and Regrets
- Sonnenfeld was with co-producer Graham Place when the towers fell; the two eventually sought solace at The Ivy, ordering drinks as production at the studio came to a complete standstill.
- The film’s climax was ultimately rewritten to take place on a nondescript roof, utilizing existing storyboards but lacking the original intended impact.
- Beyond the finale, the production team digitally erased the towers from eight to 12 additional shots throughout the movie.
- Reflecting on the process, Sonnenfeld admitted, “It’s a really terrible scene in part, I think, because we kind of didn’t have our hearts in it.”
- The director expressed deep dissatisfaction with the project, stating, “I so didn’t like doingMen in Black II. No one wants to remember that production.”
- Sonnenfeld noted that while a wrap party was likely held, he did not attend, and many others in the cast and crew also skipped the event.
Ultimately, the director emphasized that the difficulties faced by his production team were trivial in the broader context of the tragedy. “I can’t keep stressing enough,” Sonnenfeld added, “ours was a small sadness compared to the big sadness.” The experience remains a stark example of how the events of 9/11 fundamentally altered the landscape of American culture, forcing creators to reconcile their artistic visions with a reality that had been irrevocably changed. The report also notes that filming was underway on “Men in Black II,” the sequel to the wildly successful 1997 Will Smith-led mega blockbuster that, in Sonnenfeld’s words, was “really a love letter to New York.” The sequel filmed in the city durin. The report also notes that they were instant icons in a city full of them, quickly becoming favored among visual storytellers because they accomplished so much with no words at all, when they were completed in 1973. The report also notes that “It was all a plan and it was part of the sort of ‘MIB’ folklore,” he said, nodding to how the first “Men in Black” ended at another iconic New York location — the World’s Fair pavilion in Queens. The report also notes that as he stood shocked alongside the rest of the world, Sonnenfeld thought about the ending of his movie. The report also notes that weeks and months following the attack, including in the entertainment industry and culture more broadly, every aspect of American life was affected in the days. The report also notes that suddenly reminders of a nightmare that had changed the world so drastically that even fictional characters couldn’t live in a world that hadn’t, then they were gone.
