When Danny Boyle was almost forced into working with Will Smith: “Let’s be serious”
While films often become synonymous with their leading actor, it’s rarely ever a straight road to actually casting them. Danny Boyle’s The Beach is one of those films that’s renowned for its mishandling of casting, famously causing a years-long rift between him and his previous darling Ewan McGregor. But, believe it or not, it could have been even more of an issue.
Based on Alex Garland’s bestselling novel of the same name, The Beach was picked up by Boyle just a year after the release of Trainspotting. Its story follows an English backpacker in search of a legendary Thai beach, untouched by tourism and details his time spent there in a small community. Considering the nationality of the original main character and the proximity to Boyle’s masterpiece, many believed that Ewan McGregor was pretty much already greenlit to star in the leading role.
However, as the film became a big-budget studio production, McGregor was suddenly dropped. Many believe that this was due to requests from the studio for the role to go to an American actor, with there being more money in it for Boyle if he agreed. Lo and behold, Hollywood sweetheart Leonardo DiCaprio, fresh off the Titanic hype, was offered the role, alongside parts in American Psycho and The Talented Mr Ripley. Ultimately, DiCaprio chose Boyle’s film, and the rest is history, including a major falling out between Boyle and McGregor, which was only reconciled in the years prior to T2 Trainspotting.
Regardless of hurt feelings about the casting, it’s difficult to picture the film now without immediately recalling that blue cover with the baby-faced DiCaprio in the front. And, while Boyle insists there wasn’t really anyone else he considered for the role, the studio apparently had other ideas.
Speaking to Time, Boyle explained, “Would you believe me if I told you the studio said at one point, we ought to use Will Smith?” Cue the record scratch.
Will Smith? It truly would have been an entirely different film. Understandably, at the time, Smith was at his peak. He’d gone from making bops as the Fresh Prince to starring in the likes of Bad Boys and Men in Black, and was literally just off the back of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He was a leading man through and through. But, that’s still not quite comparable with DiCaprio’s Titanic, Romeo+Juliet and The Basketball Diaries. The studio wanted a heartthrob who was relevant at the time, but the range just isn’t quite the same.
To his credit, Boyle said something similar, “It’s not that I don’t like him—I’m a fan of his—but I said hang on, Will Smith wandering onto that beach? Let’s be serious about this movie.” I think to make it credible, they needed someone who seemed naïve, a dreamer. Someone who had the elfin quality that DiCaprio so effortlessly embodied at the time. Smith seemed a little too smart, a little too funny for something like The Beach. Let’s be real, he’s not serious enough.
But, it’s even a struggle to consider McGregor in the role, as he seemed a little too tapped into the real world already. Who knows, maybe he would have brought more of a world-weary, escapist vibe to the whole thing. But, DiCaprio embodied the idealistic traveller who would stumble into something dark like The Beach. As Boyle noted, “He thinks he’s a little more clued up than he really is”.
