The “perfect story” Will Smith refused to tell: “I wanted to make that movie so badly”
It’s difficult to know if Will Smith is on the brink of a comeback because, firstly, it’s hard to work out the public’s perception of him and whether or not it has sufficiently softened enough for him to be ‘uncancelled’ after slapping Chris Rock, and secondly, it depends on which projects he chooses next.
One thing is certain, which is that the movie-loving public will forget and forgive a lot of sins if they’re excited enough about the prospect of a blockbuster movie; after all, the Bad Boys franchise starring Smith has continued to thrive, with the most recent instalment bringing in over $400million at the box office.
Moreover, the actor is reportedly in the midst of getting ready to return to two of the movies that he is still fondly remembered for, with I am Legend 2 and Hancock 2 both in pre-production, so there’s definitely a way back for Smith, even if it doesn’t quite result in the kind of mid-to late 1990s heyday when he was arguably the biggest film star in the world.
Smith also has something of a reputation for either missing out on or passing up some leading roles that went on to be fairly iconic, most famously that of Neo in The Matrix, which went to Keanu Reeves in the end. He also passed on Christopher Nolan’s Inception due to the complex plot, and reportedly said no to A Star is Born, Rush Hour and Boyz n the Hood too.
Another film he was lined up to do was Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained from 2012, but again decided against it after clashing with the outspoken director. He told The Hollywood Reporter about his reasons behind giving the hit film a miss, saying, “It was about the creative direction of the story. To me, it’s as perfect a story as you could ever want: a guy that learns how to kill to retrieve his wife that has been taken as a slave. That idea is perfect. And it was just that Quentin and I couldn’t see eye to eye. I wanted to make the greatest love story that African-Americans had ever seen.”
Django Unchained was a huge success with critics and audiences alike, bringing in almost half a billion dollars on release and being nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one for Christophe Waltz as ‘Best Supporting Actor’ and another for Tarantino for ‘Best Screenplay’.
A modern-day western that pays tribute to the classics of the genre, including Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy, it is packed full of extreme violence and ethnic slurs, something which may have swayed Smith’s decision.
He added: “We talked, we met, we sat for hours and hours about it. I wanted to make that movie so badly, but I felt the only way was, it had to be a love story, not a vengeance story. I don’t believe in violence as the reaction to violence. So when I’m looking at that, it’s like: ‘No, no, no. It has to be for love’.”
Aside from the sequels he’s working on, Smith is also reportedly due to remake the 1987 classic Planes, Trains and Automobiles (no!) and an upcoming action thriller called Fast and Loose.
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