We all have the one that got away, whether it was a potential partner, a tempting job offer, or a too-good-to-be-true investment opportunity that actually panned out—for everyone else.
For actor Will Smith, there were three of those, and they were all life-changing movie roles he didn't take.
Smith has spoken publicly about turning down Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained. He told GQ that he “didn’t want to make a slavery film about vengeance,” so he turned Tarantino down.
He's also talked about turning down the role of Neo in The Matrix, saying that he didn't connected to the Wachowskis' vision at the time.
He described their pitch:
“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.”
And in a recent interview on the British radio station KISS XTRA, he revealed another role he passed up, in a movie that catapulted each of the ensemble cast members to stardom: Inception. The Christopher Nolan film grossed over $800 million worldwide—and Smith was not in it.
“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.”
Reflecting on his choices, he drew a conclusion about the types of roles he kept missing out on.
"And now that I think about it, it’s those movies that go into those alternate realities, they don’t pitch well.”
Smith admitted that, along with The Matrix, Inception is one of his "beautiful scars" that still hurts.
Folks agreed: Smith really missed out on an epic career catalog.
They empathized with Smith's characterization of his regrets as "scars."
Some people couldn't picture anyone but Leonardo DiCaprio or Keanu Reaves in Inception or The Matrix, respectively.
Others agreed that odd storylines can often be a tough sell.
While Smith may wonder what might have been had he no passed on these now-iconic films, he's certainly had a memorable and successful career.
And that's more than a lot of actors can say.
