Bill Pullman’s iconic Independence Day speech will be watched by many on Monday, July 4, but the chances of him tuning in is slim to none.
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“I don’t know when the last time we all watched,” his son, actor Lewis Pullman, exclusively tells Us Weekly. “It’s weird. We don’t really sit down and watch. We’ll watch stuff when it comes out or something, but we’re not a big TV family.”
Lewis Pullman and Bill Pullman Matt Baron/Shutterstock
The Casper actor, 68, played President Thomas Whitmore in the 1996 adventure sci-fi, which also starred Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Randy Quaid, Judd Hirsch, Margaret Colin and Vivica A. Fox.
As aliens invade and destroy Earth, the president addresses the U.S. fighter pilots before they go to war.
“We’re fighting for our right to live, to exist. And should we win the day, the 4th of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day when the world declared in one voice: ‘We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We’re going to live on! We’re going to survive!’” he declares to his team. “Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!”
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Bill Pullman in ‘Independence Day.’ YouTube
The Outer Range actor, 29, teased that his dad often gets asked to recite the scene. “I mean, the amount of times we’re at dinner and somebody’s like, ‘Please just do the speech like they want.’ My dad is at this point like, ‘You can just pop a DVD on brother and watch the speech. It’s there in HD,’” Lewis joked to Us.
He quipped: “Maybe I can get him to gimme a little portion of the speech over the barbecue this summer.”
Bill Pullman and Lewis Pullman Eric Charbonneau/Shutterstock
Like his famous dad, Lewis is starting to carve out an impressive resume of his own. He currently plays Rhett Abbott on Amazon Prime Video’s Outer Range, Lt. Robert “Bob” Floyd in the blockbuster smash Top Gun: Maverick and can next be seen in the sci-fi romance Press Play and horror film Salem’s Lot, based on Stephen King’s bestselling book.
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“I talk with [my dad] before every project and intermittently within every project. I think it’s such a bizarre profession,” Lewis told Us. “And so he really always has these real gems because he knows me so well and he knows the process so well. And so he can really give me these tailor-made pieces of advice that feel really specific and really personal. I don’t know what I would do without that.”
