Will Smith shocked followers throughout a current interview with radio station Kiss Xtra (by way of HuffPost) by revealing he turned down the lead position of Christopher Nolan‘s “Inception” as a result of he didn’t perceive the plot. Leonardo DiCaprio ended up headlining the cerebral motion thriller as a substitute. “Inception” is on a painful checklist for Smith alongside “The Matrix” and “Django Unchained” of iconic motion pictures he turned down throughout his profession.

“I don’t assume I’ve ever stated it publicly however I’m going to say it as a result of we’re opening as much as each other,” Smith stated. “Chris Nolan introduced me ‘Inception’ first and I didn’t get it. I’ve by no means stated that out loud. Now that I give it some thought, it’s these motion pictures that go into these alternate realities… they don’t pitch effectively. However I’m harm by these, too.”

Smith’s potential involvement in “Inception” was first revealed by THR a number of months after Nolan’s blockbuster opened in theaters and went on to gross $839 million on the worldwide field workplace. Sources revealed on the time that Brad Pitt was truly Nolan’s first alternative however he didn’t decide to the undertaking. Smith was up subsequent, now revealing he didn’t perceive the plot. DiCaprio signed on after and ended up with one in every of his greatest hit motion pictures.

Whereas Smith is aware of rejecting “Inception” was a profession blunder, it wasn’t as painful on reflection as his choice to show down Neo in “The Matrix.” The half went to Keanu Reeves, which gave him an iconic motion franchise. As Smith stated through the radio interview: “It hurts too unhealthy to speak about.”

Smith posted a YouTube video in 2019 explaining why he turned down “The Matrix.” The primary motive was as a result of he didn’t connect with the Wachowski siblings’ pitch, which he stated was extra about their supposed directing model and never concerning the precise story. Smith re-told the pitch as follows: “We’re pondering like… think about you’re in a combat. You, like, bounce. Think about should you might cease leaping in the course of the bounce. However then, folks might see round you 360 levels when you cease leaping. We’re going to invent these cameras after which folks can see the entire bounce if you cease in the course of the bounce.”

Then there was “Django Unchained,” which Quentin Tarantino supplied to him earlier than in the end going with Jamie Foxx within the title position. Smith instructed GQ journal that he “didn’t wish to make a slavery movie about vengeance,” so he turned Tarantino down.

“It was concerning the inventive course of the story,” Smith beforehand instructed THR about skipping “Django.” “To me, it’s as excellent a narrative as you might ever need: a man that learns find out how to kill to retrieve his spouse that has been taken as a slave. That concept is ideal. And it was simply that Quentin and I couldn’t see [eye to eye]. I wished to make that film so badly, however I felt the one approach was, it needed to be a love story, not a vengeance story.”