3 Iconic Movie Roles We Can't Believe Will Smith Turned Down
Hollywood stars are just like us -- sometimes they turned down jobs, too. And just like us, they also regret passing on some of those gigs, especially those that could have been game-changers. Just look at Will Smith, a big star who would have been even bigger if he didn't pass on the following roles.
Django in 'Django Unchained' (2013)
When it comes to Westerns, Will Smith doesn't have a good track record. That could have changed with the lead role in Quentin Tarantino's Oscar-winner. Why did he pass? "Django wasn't the lead," Smith said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. "So it was like, I need to be the lead. The other character was the lead! […] I was like, ‘No, Quentin, please, I need to kill the bad guy!’" *facepalm
Superman in 'Superman Returns' (2006)
Before he played a villain in the DCU's "Suicide Squad," he was in contention for DC's biggest hero: Superman. So what derailed his plans to put on the cape? "Wild, Wild West." Kind of. "The script came, and I was like, ‘There is no way I’m playing Superman!’ Because I had already done Jim West [of 'Wild Wild West'], and you can’t be messing up white people’s heroes in Hollywood!” Smith told MTV in 2008. Laughing, Smith added: “You mess up white people’s heroes in Hollywood, you’ll never work in this town again!”
Neo in 'The Matrix' Trilogy (1999 - 2003)
"Whoa" indeed. Why did he turn it down? Sigh, again, "Wild, Wild West." (Seriously, why is this movie like the career-killing version of the tape from "The Ring"?!) In an interview with Wired magazine, Smith said he passed on the bullet time-filled epic to work on "WWW" because "in the pitch, I just didn't see it." He went on to admit that, after watching Keanu Reeves' performance, he "would have messed it up" had he done the role. "At that point I wasn't smart enough as an actor to let the movie be," Smith revealed. "Whereas Keanu was smart enough to just let it be. Let the movie and the director tell the story, and don't try and perform every moment."
