To try to be/become friendly with someone

Hello and Happy New Year.

As far as I know "to be friendly with someone" means to be friends with them. That (sort of) makes me think that "become" could sound better in this sentence: I tried to be/become friendly with him, but he was way too self-sufficient".

I see "being friendly with a person" as a state and "becoming friendly with them" as a process. I have no problem with "I tried to be friendly to him", but I'd probably choose "become" when it's "friendly with".

Thank you.