ladbible homepage
ladbible homepage
  • Home
  • News
    • UK
    • US
    • World
    • Ireland
    • Australia
    • Science
    • Crime
    • Weather
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV
    • Film
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • Netflix
    • Disney
  • Sport
  • Technology
  • Travel
  • Lifestyle
  • Money
  • Originals
    • FFS PRODUCTIONS
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Citizen Reef
  • Videos
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Archive
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content Here
  • GAMINGbible
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • Tyla
  • FOODbible
  • UNILAD Tech
Will Smith reveals the one movie role he regretted turning down
Home>Entertainment>Film
Published 20:00 6 Jun 2024 GMT+1

Will Smith reveals the one movie role he regretted turning down

This is another big 'what if?' moment in film history

Anish Vij

Anish Vij

google discoverFollow us on Google Discover

Will Smith is one of those actors who has seemed to have played every single role you can think of.

From The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air to Agent J in Men in Black, and Christopher Gardner in The Pursuit of Happiness, he's played them all.

Despite going on to win a coveted Academy Award (we'll ignore the slap for today), there is one movie Smith regrets turning down.

Before we reveal, or you scroll down, let's see if you can guess first.

Advert

Smith opened up about the situation recently. (Full Send Podcast)
Smith opened up about the situation recently. (Full Send Podcast)

The movie classic came out in 1999 and it starred Keanu Reeves, who played a normal dude one day finding out that he's a superpowered messiah sent to free us from a digital prison.

Yep, as you have probably guessed - Smith missed out on The Wachowskis' The Matrix.

Back in 1998, the casting team were looking for the right man to play Neo.

But Smith claims the way they pitched it to him was not convincing.

On a recent episode of Full Send Podcast, the veteran actor revealed: "So yeah, I had Neo, so it was going to be me, and Val Kilmer was Morpheus."

However, Smith admits that he wouldn't have been right for the role.

"But it would have been a whole different thing, when you see it, like Keanu was absolutely a perfect Neo," he said.

"I would have been trying to do jokes and stuff like that I think I would have messed it up."

“It was a crazy time in my life,” Smith also said in a 2019 YouTube video on his channel.

“It was like however I threw the ball, it was going in.

“[The Wachowskis] came in and they made a pitch for The Matrix.

“And as it turns out, they’re geniuses! But there’s a fine line in a pitch meeting between genius and what I experienced in the meeting.

“Imagine you could stop in the middle of the jump.

“But then people could see around you 360 while you stopped jumping.”

It could have worked? (Will Smith/YouTube)
It could have worked? (Will Smith/YouTube)

“I had so much success that I started to taste global blood,” Smith told The Hollywood Reporter in 2016.

“And my focus shifted from my artistry to winning. I wanted to win and be the biggest movie star, and what happened was there was a lag—around Wild Wild West time. I found myself promoting something because I wanted to win versus promoting something because I believed in it.”

Featured Image Credit: Full Send Podcast/Karwai Tang/WireImage

Topics: Film, Will Smith, The Matrix, Keanu Reeves, Entertainment

Anish Vij
Anish Vij

Anish is a Journalist at LADbible Group and is a GG2 Young Journalist of the Year 2025. He has a Master's degree in Multimedia Journalism and a Bachelor's degree in International Business Management. Apart from that, his life revolves around the ‘Four F’s’ - family, friends, football and food. Email: [email protected]

X

@Anish_Vij

Recommended reads

Man ate ‘Blue Zone diet’ for seven days to show off impact it had on bodyInstagram/@Willtenny‘Super El Niño’ is carrying deadly ‘silent killer’ threat to entire worldNoaa SatellitesTruth behind ‘hidden’ Radford family member who is rarely seen on showChannel 4Woman arrested at airport over £2.1k all-inclusive holiday ‘dine and dash’National Police

Advert

Choose your content:

11 hours ago
12 hours ago
16 hours ago
  • Channel 4
    11 hours ago

    Truth behind ‘hidden’ Radford family member who is rarely seen on show

    The Radford family are famous for having 22 children, but not everyone appears onscreen

    Entertainment
  • John Shearer/Getty Images
    12 hours ago

    Jelly Roll and Bunnie XO settle divorce with details revealed

    The couple broke up in May

    Entertainment
  • Universal
    16 hours ago

    Viewers warned about ‘The Odyssey’ moment that people ‘still haven’t recovered from’

    Christopher Nolan's latest blockbuster was released on July 17

    Entertainment
  • Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
    16 hours ago

    Heath Ledger's sister debunked major misconception about his Joker role years after his death

    The iconic Batman movie directed by Christopher Nolan has just turned eighteen years old

    Entertainment
  • Brad Pitt and Will Smith both turned down role in one of most iconic movies ever that could have changed entire thing
  • Fresh Prince star was 'blacklisted' and 'lost everything' after fallout with Will Smith
  • Jack Black admitted he was being 'difficult' in turning down role for 'one of the best films ever'
  • People can’t believe Hollywood actor’s unrecognisable transformation for new movie