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Started By
Message
Will Smith has turned down some really big roles
Posted on 6/15/25 at 9:23 pm
Posted on 6/15/25 at 9:23 pm
He's had a great career, but these are some big ones he passed on.
LINK
quote:
Will Smith shocked fans during a recent interview with radio station Kiss Xtra (via HuffPost) by revealing he turned down the lead role of Christopher Nolan‘s “Inception” because he didn’t understand the plot. Leonardo DiCaprio ended up headlining the cerebral action thriller instead. “Inception” is on a painful list for Smith, alongside “The Matrix” and “Django Unchained,” of iconic movies he turned down during his career.
“I don’t think I’ve ever said it publicly but I am going to say it because we are opening up to one another,” Smith said. “Chris Nolan brought me ‘Inception’ first and I didn’t get it. I’ve never said that out loud. Now that I think about it, it’s those movies that go into those alternate realities… they don’t pitch well. But I am hurt by those, too.”
While Smith knows rejecting “Inception” was a career blunder, it wasn’t as painful in retrospect as his decision to turn down Neo in “The Matrix.” The part went to Keanu Reeves, which gave him an iconic action franchise. As Smith said during the radio interview: “It hurts too bad to talk about.”
Smith posted a YouTube video in 2019 explaining why he turned down “The Matrix.” The main reason was because he didn’t connect to the Wachowski siblings’ pitch, which he said was more about their intended directing style and not about the actual story. Smith re-told the pitch as follows: “We’re thinking like… imagine you’re in a fight. You, like, jump. Imagine if you could stop jumping in the middle of the jump. But then, people could see around you 360 degrees while you stop jumping. We’re going to invent these cameras and then people can see the whole jump when you stop in the middle of the jump.”
quote:
Then there was “Django Unchained,” which Quentin Tarantino offered to him before ultimately going with Jamie Foxx in the title role. Smith told GQ magazine that he “didn’t want to make a slavery film about vengeance,” so he turned Tarantino down.
“It was about the creative direction of the story,” Smith previously told THR about skipping “Django.” “To me, it’s as perfect a story as you could ever want: a guy that learns how to kill to retrieve his wife that has been taken as a slave. That idea is perfect. And it was just that Quentin and I couldn’t see [eye to eye]. I wanted to make that movie so badly, but I felt the only way was, it had to be a love story, not a vengeance story.”
LINK
25
Posted on 6/15/25 at 9:41 pm to RLDSC FAN
quote:
I wanted to make that movie so badly, but I felt the only way was, it had to be a love story, not a vengeance story.”
Confirmation that he is gay
Posted on 6/15/25 at 9:42 pm to RLDSC FAN
Wild wild west was playing on national tv this morning. Let that soak in.
Out of all the movies ever created they chose to play that one
Out of all the movies ever created they chose to play that one
Posted on 6/15/25 at 9:44 pm to RLDSC FAN
quote:
I wanted to make that movie so badly, but I felt the only way was, it had to be a love story, not a vengeance story.
I can say with 100% certainty the movie wouldve been worse with Will Smith involved.
Im not even a jamie fox fan but he nailed the role.
Posted on 6/15/25 at 9:49 pm to RLDSC FAN
I can somewhat understand turning down The Matrix as the Wachowskis weren't huge names in the business, but how could he turn down working with Nolan or Tarantino?
Posted on 6/15/25 at 9:55 pm to John Casey
quote:
but how could he turn down working with Nolan or Tarantino?
Nolan blew up after the Dark knight. Nolan has said he'd been working on inception for years, so it's possible he pitched it to Smith well before becoming the superstar director that he turned into.
Posted on 6/15/25 at 10:01 pm to RLDSC FAN
He’s done ok though. Not like no-name guy passing up a big role.
Posted on 6/15/25 at 10:35 pm to RLDSC FAN
Thank goodness. Matrix especially would have been hurt, and we might not have gotten some other good Keanu films.
Posted on 6/15/25 at 10:40 pm to RLDSC FAN
Sounded a little like he was gonna make a movie "with" Tarantino. I couldn't see that happening.
Never understood the matrix role. Reeves has more of that character, the lonely quiet hacker. Maybe the brothers changed it a little. Never could picture Smith in it.
Django would have been interesting to see him in.
Never understood the matrix role. Reeves has more of that character, the lonely quiet hacker. Maybe the brothers changed it a little. Never could picture Smith in it.
Django would have been interesting to see him in.
Posted on 6/15/25 at 10:46 pm to RLDSC FAN
But he did Hitch with Kevin James?
damn dude, no wonder you go rogue at a awards show
damn dude, no wonder you go rogue at a awards show
Posted on 6/15/25 at 10:48 pm to RLDSC FAN
After what he did to Wild, Wild West, I'm glad he's been limited.
WWW could have been the start of a stylish, cynical western series. But, no, it had Will Smith.
WWW could have been the start of a stylish, cynical western series. But, no, it had Will Smith.
Posted on 6/15/25 at 10:51 pm to RLDSC FAN
Out of Inception, Django, and The Matrix, I think Django is the only one where he might’ve actually done a decent job, and that’s mostly because of Tarantino’s direction. Even then, I don’t think he would’ve been better than Jamie Foxx.
Inception could’ve worked just because it leans more on concept and story than any one performance, you could’ve plugged in a lot of different actors and it still would’ve worked.
I just can’t see him in the matrix at all.
Inception could’ve worked just because it leans more on concept and story than any one performance, you could’ve plugged in a lot of different actors and it still would’ve worked.
I just can’t see him in the matrix at all.
Posted on 6/15/25 at 10:52 pm to real turf fan
quote:
After what he did to Wild, Wild West, I'm glad he's been limited.
WWW could have been the start of a stylish, cynical western series. But, no, it had Will Smith.
Im glad you said it.
Django wouldn't have been django with will smith.
It would've been the fresh prince trying to pretend he was an escaped slave and it wouldnt have been that believable.
Dude wouldve had to bulk up a lot like he did for iRobot at the very least
Posted on 6/15/25 at 11:04 pm to RLDSC FAN
I wonder if people, especially Smith, ever consider that some of these movies might not have been hits if he had accepted the roles. We often underestimate how much influence an actor brings to a film, from how they interpret a character and improvise lines to how they interact with the cast and shape the story itself. Great movies succeed because they capture something elusive, something magical that cannot be predicted or fully explained. That is why they are so rare. Change just one element, especially the lead actor, and that magic can easily disappear.
Posted on 6/15/25 at 11:23 pm to UnoMe
quote:
But he did Hitch with Kevin James?
You trying to insult my man hitch?
quote:
UnoMe
Posted on 6/15/25 at 11:27 pm to cssamerican
quote:
We often underestimate how much influence an actor brings to a film, from how they interpret a character and improvise lines to how they interact with the cast and shape the story itself. Great movies succeed because they capture something elusive, something magical that cannot be predicted or fully explained. That is why they are so rare. Change just one element, especially the lead actor, and that magic can easily disappear.
Agreed and I don’t know if Keanu or Leo could have pulled off men in black or Independence Day.
For as much as people have soured on him there was a time where will was as bankable as a star as they come and has some awesome movies
MIB
Enemy of the state
Independence Day
Ali
Pursuit of happyness
Hitch
Bad boys
I mean if you try to add in “what could have been” that’s a pretty all timer resume
This post was edited on 6/15/25 at 11:36 pm
Posted on 6/16/25 at 1:52 am to nes2010
quote:
Thank goodness. Matrix especially would have been hurt, and we might not have gotten some other good Keanu films.
Yeah...there would have only been one Matrix movie if Will Smith had been Neo.
Posted on 6/16/25 at 6:20 am to RLDSC FAN
Jada Pinkett Smith has turned down roles for Will…
Posted on 6/16/25 at 7:20 am to RLDSC FAN
Who can't understand the plot of Inception?
“It was about the creative direction of the story,” Smith previously told THR about skipping “Django.” “To me, it’s as perfect a story as you could ever want: a guy that learns how to kill to retrieve his wife that has been taken as a slave. That idea is perfect. And it was just that Quentin and I couldn’t see [eye to eye]. I wanted to make that movie so badly, but I felt the only way was, it had to be a love story, not a vengeance story.”
Yeah, cause you're not the director/writer, slick.
“It was about the creative direction of the story,” Smith previously told THR about skipping “Django.” “To me, it’s as perfect a story as you could ever want: a guy that learns how to kill to retrieve his wife that has been taken as a slave. That idea is perfect. And it was just that Quentin and I couldn’t see [eye to eye]. I wanted to make that movie so badly, but I felt the only way was, it had to be a love story, not a vengeance story.”
Yeah, cause you're not the director/writer, slick.
This post was edited on 6/16/25 at 7:22 am
Posted on 6/16/25 at 7:24 am to SouthEasternKaiju
I used to like Will Smith. His weirdness with Jada took the shine off and his gay slap of Chris Rock sealed the deal. I won't watch anything he's in anymore.
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