Will Smith Explains Why He Turned Down ‘Django Unchained’

Will Smith recently explained why he decided to turn down a role in Quentin Tarantino’s acclaimed western Django Unchained.

The Reservoir Dogs director originally reached out to Smith for the role of Django in the flick. Although the character is central to the story, the actor didn’t feel he was the lead. The role would eventually land in the lap of Jamie Foxx.

“He didn’t walk away from it because he was scared of the material. It just wasn’t 100 per cent right, and we didn’t have time to try to make it that way,” Tarantino said of the situation.

Will Smith revealed why he decided to pass on Django Unchained during an interview with the folks at Entertainment Weekly.

“Django wasn’t the lead, so it was like, I need to be the lead. The other character was the lead!” the Fresh Prince alum explained.

Although Smith felt Dr. King Schultz was the lead character in Quentin Tarantino’s flick, Christoph Waltz would go on to win a supporting actor Oscar for his performance.

However, Smith isn’t holding a grudge against the director of Django Unchained. The actor seemed to think highly of the western.

“I thought it was brilliant. Just not for me,” he said.

The actor certainly doesn’t have a problem letting his son take the lead role in M. Night Shyamalan’s upcoming science fiction flick After Earth. The film follows a boy as he attempts to save his father after the pair crash land on Earth years after its has been evacuated.

If the listings on Internet Movie Database are to be believed, then Will Smith will be returning to a handful of lead roles he’s tackled before. The website currently has the actor attached to I, Robot 2, Hancock 2, and Bad Boys 3.

Are you a fan of Will Smith? Do you think he would have been right for Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained?

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