Will Smith is the king of saying “nah” to iconic movie roles. The man has screwed himself out of so much career-boosting work that his taste in scripts has come into serious question.
The latest addition to this Hall of Regret? Christopher Nolan’s “Inception.” In a recent interview (via Big Rakoon), Smith dropped the quiet little bombshell:
I don’t think I’ve ever said it publicly before, and I’m going to say it now […] Chris Nolan brought me “Inception” first, and I didn’t get [the movie]. And now that I think about it, it’s those movies that go into those alternate realities. They don’t pitch well. But I’m hurt by those two.
Those “two” being “Inception” and, of course, “The Matrix,” another sci-fi classic he passed on for —gulp— “Wild Wild West.” Smith has admitted he didn’t “get” the Wachowskis’ pitch, which involved a lot of hand gestures and vague philosophical references.
You’d think after saying no to a game-changing film once, Smith might’ve developed a sixth sense for these things. Instead, he doubled down and also missed a Nolan brain-bender that became a pop culture landmark. The man has spent the last two decades dodging greatness like it’s a tax audit.
To be clear, “Inception” went on to make nearly $900M worldwide, win four Oscars, and solidify Leonardo DiCaprio’s “serious actor” era. Smith, meanwhile, starred in “Seven Pounds” and “Suicide Squad.”
Oh, and then there’s “Django Unchained.” Quentin Tarantino wrote the part of Django with Smith in mind, which is like Picasso sketching you into a great film and you saying, “not for me.” Smith declined, reportedly uncomfortable with the film’s violence and the fact that Django, in his eyes, wasn’t the true lead of the story.
Look, I get it — not every script reads like a future classic at first glance, but Smith’s particular radar for saying no to once-in-a-generation projects is so uniquely flawed, it deserves scientific study.