Did Will Smith get Val Kilmer fired from ‘The Matrix’?
When The Matrix was released in 1999, it was a surprise hit. The Wachowskis’ existential steampunk sci-fi martial arts thriller was not the type of movie you would expect to go mainstream, mainly because no one had ever made anything quite like it. Aesthetically and thematically, it was drawing on familiar pop culture and mythological touchstones, but the combination was unique.
Keanu Reeves’ performance as Neo, a hacker who is believed to be the chosen saviour of humanity and can pull it out of its enslavement to sentient machines, has defined his career. Between the black cape, martial arts skills, and acting minimalism, his entire presence in the film is iconic. He was able to convey the character through his physicality rather than dialogue or emotive acting, and his relative lack of dramatic chops was actually an asset in this regard.
Similarly, Laurence Fishburne’s role as Morpheus, the leader of the human resistance against the machine captors who keep humanity locked in a simulation, is unforgettable. His tiny dark glasses and deep voice gave the character the perfect amount of grandeur and intensity to play off of Neo, and it is equally challenging to imagine anyone else in the role.
Believe it or not, however, neither Reeves nor Fishburne were the Wachowskis’ first choices. They had initially approached Will Smith and Val Kilmer to play Neo and Morpheus, respectively, only to have that idea fall through thanks to the Fresh Prince’s fears of being typecast.
In a 2019 video on his YouTube channel, Smith admitted his mistake in passing on The Matrix and revealed how his rejection of the project might have had an impact on Val Kilmer’s involvement as well. “That was a crazy time in my life,” he said, in reference to the late ’90s. “However I threw the ball, it was going in.”
He’d had an extraordinary run of box office success with Bad Boys, Independence Day, Men in Black, and Enemy of the State within three years. When the Wachowskis approached him about The Matrix, he wasn’t keen on doing another science fiction movie after Independence Day and Men in Black. He turned them down and made Wild Wild West, which flopped hard.
Smith believes that, by rejecting the part, he forced the Wachowskis to rescind their job offer to Kilmer for the role of Morpheus. “If I had done it – because I’m Black – Morpheus wouldn’t have been Black,” he explained.
He believed that both Reeves and Fishburne were perfect in their roles, and he, therefore, had no regrets about his decision. “I probably would have messed The Matrix up,” he said. “I would’ve ruined it. So I did ya’ll a favour.”
Whether Smith was actually responsible for Kilmer not taking the role is unclear. Plenty of other actors had been offered the part of Morpheus and had turned it down, including Arnold Schwarzenegger (who had been the filmmakers’ first choice), Michael Douglas, Gary Oldman, and Samuel L Jackson. It’s perfectly possible that Kilmer did the same, and the Wachowskis would have been searching for his replacement even if Smith had signed on.
Regardless of the order in which the dominoes fell, it all ended up exactly as it should have, with Reeves and Fishburne in their respective roles. Sometimes, movies come along at the right time with the perfect cast, and The Matrix is one of them. Its sequels never lived up to expectations, but that first film is the most innovative and cohesive box office hit of the ’90s and continues to inspire other filmmakers.
