Will Smith Reveals 2 Huge Movie Roles He Turned Down
The Fresh Prince doesn’t exactly have the best track record with choosing his roles.
In a new interview with radio station Kiss Xtra, the Men in Black star revealed two roles he was offered and regretfully turned down.
He first confirmed, once again, that he was offered the role of Neo in the classic 1999 sci-fi film The Matrix—which ultimately went to Keanu Reeves.
Smith chose to star in steampunk Western Wild Wild West, a notorious box office bomb, instead of The Matrix. He called turning down the role of Neo one of his “beautiful scars.” But the real surprise came with his next reveal.
Further along in the interview, Smith mentioned another role he turned down that “hurts too bad to talk about.” After further prodding, he revealed to the show’s host that Christopher Nolan offered him the lead role in his global megahit sci-fi drama Inception, but he turned it down because he didn’t understand the script.
“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.”
Inception released in 2010, to critical acclaim, eight Oscar nominations, and almost a billion dollars at the box office. Smith didn’t star in a movie that year, instead opting to help launch his son Jaden’s film career by producing the 2010 remake of The Karate Kid.
“I’m hurt by those two,” he said.
In a 2019 video on his YouTube channel, Smith further explained why he turned down The Matrix, saying the Wachowski siblings’ pitch was too confusing and revolved more around their camera work instead of explaining the film’s story.
He said the two sisters pitched him the movie 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.”
He said he couldn’t see the film working out and turned the role down, later calling it a terrible mistake.
Famously, Smith also turned down the lead role in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, which ultimately led to Jamie Foxx’s casting in the wildly popular 2012 Western.
