Will Smith is considered among the A-listers and one of the most influential names in the acting industry. The actor has garnered a massive fan following and a global personality with his highly successful movies. Though his popularity received a hit due to the infamous incident at the Oscars, he is one of the gems of the Hollywood industry.

Will Smith
The star is known for his performance in Gemini Man, The Pursuit of Happyness, and Men In Black, among others. When you are a top-rated star, you get numerous offers from directors, and you can accept only a few of them. Smith was offered a major role in prominent director Quentin Tarantino’s movie.

Why Will Smith decline Quentin Tarantino’s $426 million movie?

Hancock star Will Smith has been offered numerous popular roles, which he has to pass due to different reasons. The actor was offered the lead role of Neo in The Matrix by Wachowskis, but Smith opted out of the film. Another in the line was Quentin Tarantino, who offered him the lead in Django Unchained. Tarantino wanted Smith to play the part of Django in his revisionist Western film.

In a 2015 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Smith shared that he wanted to make that movie but turned it down, as he wanted it to be a love story and not a vengeance story. The actor said,
“Violence begets violence. I just couldn’t connect to violence being the answer. Love had to be the answer.”

Will Smith
However, a few years back in 2013, the actor had also given another reason for backing out from the film. As per the interview with Entertainment Weekly, he turned down the role because it wasn’t big enough for him. He felt that Dr. King Schultz, played by Christoph Waltz, seemed like the main character since Schultz shot the film’s main villain.

Will Smith was not pleased with the plot and tried to convince Tarantino to make some changes. Smith said,
“I was like, ‘No, Quentin, please, I need to kill the bad guy.’”
The role was given to Jamie Foxx, and the movie was released in 2012.

About Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained

Django Unchained is a 2012 American revisionist Western movie written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. The star cast includes Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson, with Walton Goggins, Dennis Christopher, James Remar, Michael Parks, and Don Johnson in supporting roles.

Leonardo DiCaprio

The story is set in Old West and Antebellum South, and it is a heavily revisionist tribute to Spaghetti Westerns. The story follows the journey of a black slave who trains under a German bounty hunter as he gears up to reunite with his long-lost wife. Leonardo DiCaprio played the role of despotic enslaver Calvin Candie, which is regarded as one of the most iconic roles of the star.

Source-Looper