Will Smith Is No Stranger To Turning Down Big Roles, But The Reason He Didn't Do This Quentin Tarant

Highlights

Will Smith turned down the lead role in Django Unchained due to creative differences with Quentin Tarantino, wanting a different ending and a more prominent role.
Despite turning down Django Unchained, Smith later starred in Emancipation, a film about slavery that he felt showcased the power of Black love.
Will Smith's movie career has had a few other big role turndowns, including a decision to not appear in Independence Day 2.

Will Smith once turned down the lead role in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, which would ultimately star Jamie Foxx. “I didn’t want to make a slavery film about vengeance," Smith explained. He had previously told the press the reason he couldn't make the Tarantino action flick was due to a scheduling conflict with Men in Black 3.

Fans of the actor were later confused he signed up for Emancipation, in which Smith plays a slave named Peter who flees a Louisiana plantation after being nearly whipped to death.

“I’ve always avoided making films about slavery,” Smith explained about his change of mind. “In the early part of my career…I didn’t want to show Black people in that light. I wanted to be a superhero. So I wanted to depict Black excellence alongside my white counterparts. I wanted to play roles that you would give to Tom Cruise.”

Why Will Smith Turned Down Django Unchained

Will Smith turned down the lead role in 2012's Django Unchained due to a certain scene with Leonard DiCaprio. The film would go on to gross $426 million and earn his co-star Christoph Waltz his second Oscar.

Will Smith had previously explained that, “It was about the creative direction of the story." The movie tells the story of a freed slave who trains under a bounty hunter to rescue his wife from his former plantation owner (played by DiCaprio).

He added that he was a fan of the script and wanted to make the movie "badly," he just couldn't quite see eye-to-eye with the director. “To me, it’s as perfect a story as you could ever want: a guy that learns how to kill to retrieve his wife that has been taken as a slave. That idea is perfect."

Smith wasn't happy with the fact that Dr. King Schultz (played by Waltz) had such an important role in the movie. "Django wasn’t the lead, so it was like, I need to be the lead. The other character was the lead!"

He also wanted Quentin Tarantino to rewrite the ending, so he gets revenge on the plantation owner: "I was like, ‘No, Quentin, please, I need to kill the bad guy!"

Will Smith still has no regrets about turning down the role. "I thought it was brilliant," he told the outlet. "Just not for me."

What Will Smith's Emancipation Had That Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained Lacked

Although he turned down the role in Django Unchained, seeing the script made Will Smith consider appearing in a film about slavery.

Emancipation was the style of movie Smith wanted to make with Quentin Tarantino. "This was one that was about love and the power of Black love. And that was something that I could rock with. We were going to make a story about how Black love makes us invincible.”

Directed by Antoine Fuqua, the 2022 historical drama follows runaway slave Peter (played by Smith) as he escapes from a Louisiana plantation in the 1860s. Smith admitted he felt the weight of the role during filming. “I went too far in Emancipation,” Smith revealed to Kevin Hart on his chat series Hart To Hart. “Just bringing it up, I start to get teary. I wanted to feel the degradation of slavery, and I went too far in.”

Did Will Smith Turn Down The Chance To Appear In Independence Day 2?

Independence Day 2 was considered a flop and many believe it was due to Will Smith not being involved.

Vivica A Fox, who played Dr. Jasmine Dubrow-Hiller in the two films believes that the movie would have performed better had Smith been involved. “I really feel we missed out by not bringing Will Smith back."

In 2016, Smith said that he passed on the science fiction sequel in favor of Suicide Squad as he wanted to try new things. “I had to choose between the two of those…trying to go forward versus clinging and clawing backward,” he said. This adventurous side didn't last too long as he would soon appear in Bad Boys 3.

Director Roland Emmerich had a different story. “Will Smith cannot come back because he’s too expensive,” he said. It was rumored Smith wanted $50 million to appear in the action sequel. “But he’d also be too much of a marquee name.”

The story had to be hugely changed after Will Smith backed out from appearing in the movie. The original story was about the relationship between a father and a son.

Which Other Iconic Roles Will Smith Has Turned Down

Django Unchained is not the only iconic role Will Smith has turned down in his successful three-decade career. His famous turned down the role of Neo in The Matrix, something is now "not proud of."

The actor admits that he didn't really understand the pitch by the Wachowskis, and he instead opted to star in Wild Wild West. Considering how critically panned Wild Wild West is, this is considered one of the worst choices in modern cinema. Smith has said that he would like to go back in time and tell his younger self: “‘Hey man, don’t do Wild Wild West.’ I would say, ‘Dude, do Neo.'”

The actor was also offered the role of Superman in Bryan Singer's 2006 reboot Superman Returns. The actor claimed he turned it down because "You mess up white people’s heroes in Hollywood, you’ll never work in this town again!"