Will Smith paid $135,000 for a Fourth of July fireworks display in New Orleans

Will Smith paid US$100,000 (S$135,000) for an Independence Day (July 4) fireworks display in New Orleans.

The 52-year-old actor decided to pay for the celebratory fireworks out of his own pocket after learning that New Orleans didn’t plan a 2021 show.

Prior to the event, Mayor LaToya Cantrell wrote on Twitter: "A fireworks display produced by Go 4th on the River will take place in New Orleans along the Mississippi Riverfront at 9pm Sunday, July 4, 2021. (celebration emojis)"

[embed]https://twitter.com/mayorcantrell/status/1411034185620463622[/embed]

"The gift of city fireworks was made possible by actor and producer Will Smith, along with his company Westbrook. (sic)"

City officials cancelled last year's celebrations because of the coronavirus pandemic. But this year, Will was determined to help the people of New Orleans to celebrate the occasion by the Mississippi River.

The Hollywood star is currently based in the city, where he's been filming Emancipation, a new film that centres on a slave who escaped a Louisiana plantation.

Will previously switched the shoot from Georgia to Louisiana, after Georgia passed a law that led to a federal lawsuit saying that the move was designed to deny black citizens equal access to vote.

Earlier in his career, Will starred as Steven Hiller in the hit action film Independence Day.

The movie - which remains one of the biggest successes of the actor's career - tells the story of an alien invasion, and Will previously insisted he's open-minded about the idea of there being other forms of life in the universe.

He said: "I just think it would be arrogant of us to think that humankind is the only 'kind' that exists in the entire universe. How is that possible?

"But I'm a conspiracy junkie, though, so I believe all that stuff."

ALSO READ: Will Smith to star in new thriller Fast & Loose