Will Smith is one of the biggest celebrities in Hollywood. As the world copes with another Christopher Nolan success with the release of "The Odyssey," it's a good time to look back on the comments he once made, revealing that he was once offered one of Nolan's most famous roles. He turned it down because he didn't understand the plot.
© GettySmith shared this moment last year, on the radio station KISS XTRA. He revealed that the anecdote is not one he likes to discuss often, because he regrets his decision.
“I don’t think I’ve ever said it publicly before, but I am going to say it now because we are opening up to one another,” he said with a laugh. “Chris Nolan brought me 'Inception' first and I didn’t get it. I’ve never said that out loud. Now that I think about it, it’s those movies that go into those alternate realities that don’t pitch well. But I am hurt by those, too… It hurts too bad to talk about.”
It's a baffling career move considering Nolan had just come off of directing one of the most beloved action movies in the world: "The Dark Knight."
© GettyStill, something must have gone wrong during the pitching process, because Smith wasn't the only actor who turned down the part. Nolan first offered the script to Brad Pitt, then to Smith and finally to Leonardo DiCaprio, who ultimately starred in the film.
"Inception" was an incredible success, grossing over $800 million.
It isn't the only amazing sci-fi movie Smith has turned down
In that same interview, Smith also addressed one of the career decisions he regrets the most: turning down "The Matrix."
"That was one of my beautiful scars," he said, prompting laughs from the show's host. "It hurts too bad."
He's discussed this more extensively in past opportunities. In a YouTube video posted six years ago, he said he turned down "The Matrix" because he didn't know the filmmakers and didn't understand their pitch. “After we made Men in Black, the Wachowskis came in and they’d only done one movie. They did a movie called Bound. And then 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," he said humorously.
Instead, Smith went on to make "Wild Wild West," one of the biggest flops of his career. You win some, you lose some.
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