Will Smith has shared why he walked away from one of Hollywood’s biggest movie roles. The 57-year-old actor recently looked back at turning down The Matrix, saying that he simply did not understand the idea when it was first explained to him.
In a recent interview, Smith shared he was first offered the role of Neo before Keanu Reeves joined the film.
He also revealed that Val Kilmer was being considered for the role of Morpheus. “I had Neo. It was going to be me, and Val Kilmer was Morpheus,” Smith said.
The Men in Black actor explained that the directors tried to tell him about a new camera technique they wanted to use. They said they planned to use around 30 cameras that would all take pictures at the same time to create scenes where a person could appear frozen in the air.
Smith, however, then admitted the idea made no sense to him at the time.
“I’m going to give you the exact pitch they gave me,” he said before adding, “That didn’t sell me on that. I’m passing that to you, bro.”
Everything changed after the movie came out in 1999 and became a huge success. “And then I saw it, I was like, ‘That’s what actually happens. That’s so cool,'” Smith said. “Yeah, I missed The Matrix. I missed that one.”
The role, moreover, later went to Keanu Reeves and his performance as Neo became one of the most famous roles in movie history.