Will Smith Turned Down This Christopher Nolan Movie Because He 'Didn't Get It'

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Someone, update the score card. Will Smith's record at picking science fiction classics to act in is now 50/50. The "Men in Black" and "Independence Day" star famously turned down the role of Neo in "The Matrix," and during Smith's recent appearance on British radio station Kiss XTRA, host Craig Mitch asked Smith about this decision, and if there are any similar movies he turned down.

Smith initially said "it hurts too bad" to answer the question. But, having apparently reached the acceptance stage of grief, he dropped this bombshell:

"I don't think I've ever even said it publicly before ... And I'm going to say it now because we're opening up to one another. Chris Nolan brought me 'Inception' first, and I didn't get it. I've never said that out loud before."

In 2010, months after the release of "Inception," the Hollywood Reporter reported that Smith was Nolan's second choice for the lead role, after Brad Pitt and before Leonardo DiCaprio (who said yes and starred in the finished movie). However, Smith claims that this is the first time he's ever talked about turning "Inception" down, and I get why it stings just like "The Matrix" did. "Inception" was a massive success, critically and commercially. Alongside "The Dark Knight," it set the stage for Nolan's enduring record of success as a filmmaker and at the box office. I don't think "Inception" is the very best Christopher Nolan movie (though it's close), but it is the movie that proved he didn't need Batman to make a blockbuster.

"The Matrix" and "Inception" are fairly similar movies, and not just because Will Smith said no to both. (Hey, at least you said yes to "Suicide Squad," Will!). Both are about dreams and different layers of reality, and also action-adventure films with a more thoughtful side. Setpieces like the rotating hallway in "Inception" are built on effects like bullet time in "The Matrix," which played with the spatial reality of dreams.

Smith noted those similarities in the Kiss XTRA interview and concluded: "Now that I think about it, it's those movies that go into those alternate realities. They don't pitch well."

Smith told Kiss XTRA that he considers turning down "The Matrix" to be "one of [his] beautiful scars." In 2019, Smith shared a video on his personal YouTube channel to set the record straight about why he said no to playing Neo in "The Matrix."

"As it turns out, ['The Matrix' directors the Wachowskis] are geniuses! But there's a fine line in a pitch meeting between genius and what I experienced in the meeting," Smith explained. He then proceeded to recite the pitch (or at least his memory of it): 

"So, dude, we're thinking like, imagine you're in a fight, and then you're like jump, imagine if you could stop jumping in the middle of the jump, but then people could see around you 360 while you're jumping, while you're stopped jumping ... Then, we're going to invent these cameras, and then people can see the whole jump while you stop in the middle of the jump."

He concludes his story: "So I made 'Wild Wild West.'" Smith thinks it worked out for the best, not only because Keanu Reeves was perfect for Neo, but because Laurence Fishburne was perfect for Morpheus. "If I had done it, because I'm Black, Morpheus wouldn't have been Black ... I probably would've messed 'The Matrix' up ... so I did y'all a favor."

Smith's comment about "not [getting]" "Inception" tracks with what he's said about turning down "The Matrix." Following its release, "Inception" built a reputation as a confusing movie, mostly due to its nesting doll structure of a dream within a dream within a dream, and so on. Movies where you can't tell what's real and what isn't can be confusing already, in "Inception" you also have to keep track of what happens in which dream. I really think everything slides into place on the second viewing (and when you accept that it doesn't matter if what happens at the end of "Inception" is real or a dream). But I also understand why keeping track of those story layers in a script or pitch (without being able to see it play out visually) would be difficult.

In saying no to both "The Matrix" and "Inception," Will Smith has some of the most beautiful scars in Hollywood.