The game-changing movie Will Smith said he “would have ruined”
At the peak of his powers as a box office pull, Will Smith set a record that still hasn’t been broken by becoming the first actor to headline eight movies in a row that earned north of $100million at the box office in the United States. Ironically, that came after he turned down one of the most influential films of the modern age in favour of taking top billing in a catastrophic flop.
Early 21st-century cinema would look remarkably different if it wasn’t for The Matrix, with the Wachowskis’ game-changing sci-fi action blockbuster leaving behind a monumental legacy. For years, the industry became obsessed with leather outfits, bullet time, and wuxia-inspired fight scenes, and that’s without even mentioning its cultural legacy, ranging from fashion and video games to animation and music.
It’s difficult to imagine The Matrix without Keanu Reeves’ wide-eyed John Anderson acting as the audience surrogate who eventually becomes chosen one Neo, and it’s even harder to envision Smith’s signature wisecracking and motor-mouthed style bringing the character to life.
That was the original plan, though, with Smith telling the story of how he turned down The Matrix on his YouTube channel: “So, after we made Men in Black, The Wachowskis, they came in, and it was like, they had only done one movie. And they came in, and they made a pitch for The Matrix,” he said. “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.”
Failing to wrap his head around the concept, Smith revealed “the actual elevator pitch” made to him by the siblings: “So, dude, we’re thinking like, like imagine you’re in a fight, and then, you like, jump. Imagine if you could stop jumping in the middle of the jump,” he continued. “But then, people could see around you, 360 while you’re jumping. While you’re stop-jumping. Right? And then, we’re gonna invent these cameras. And then people can see the whole jump while you stop in the middle of the jump.”
Sure enough, he didn’t quite grasp what it was supposed to be, but that wasn’t all. Instead of The Matrix, Smith instead re-teamed with his Men in Black director Barry Sonnenfeld for Wild Wild West. Seeing as the $175m flop won five Golden Raspberry Awards, including ‘Worst Picture’, it’s easy to see why the star made it clear he’s “not proud of it”.
That being said, Smith did offer some justification, seemingly confident in his belief that he would have ruined the entire movie: “Keanu was perfect. Laurence Fishburne was perfect. If I had done it, because I’m Black, then Morpheus wouldn’t have been Black because they were looking at Val Kilmer,” he continued. “So, I was going to be Neo, and Val Kilmer was going to be Morpheus. So, I probably would’ve messed The Matrix up. I would have ruined it. So I did y’all a favour.”
Given Kilmer’s reputation, there would have been a distinct chance he’d have caused some behind-the-scenes issues, too, so Smith might have been proven correct in the long run based on the success of The Matrix and its subsequent sequels.
