Will Smith Is Being Mocked For His “Horrible Judgment” Thanks To A Resurfaced Clip
Will Smith Is Being Mocked For His “Horrible Judgment” Thanks To A Resurfaced Clip
Ellen DurneyMon, July 27, 2026 at 8:46 AM UTC
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Jason Merritt / Getty ImagesWill Smith has had a wildly successful career in Hollywood, and it's possible it may have been even bigger if he hadn't turned down these massive roles. (Or slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars, but that's a different story).In the '90s, he was offered the lead role in The Matrix, but turned it down because he didn't understand the script. Instead, he made Wild Wild West, which remains one of his biggest career flops, while The Matrix grossed over $460 million worldwide and launched an entire franchise.
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He could've also played Jamie Foxx's part in Django Unchained, but passed because he felt the role "wasn't the lead." "It was like, I need to be the lead," he told Entertainment Weekly in 2013. Django Unchained became Quentin Tarantino's highest-grossing film ever, bringing in $425 million at the worldwide box office. That same year, Will starred in After Earth, another one of his biggest career failures.
Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images, ©Weinstein Company/Courtesy Everett CollectionAnd if that wasn't already bad enough, we found out last year that Christopher Nolan approached Will to star as Dom Cobb inInception, the 2010 sci-fi actioner that grossed over $837 million worldwide and was nominated for eight Oscars. The role went to Leonardo DiCaprio instead, and Inception remains his highest-grossing movie of all time, second only to Titanic.
Carlos Alvarez / Getty Images, ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett CollectionWhen discussing the topic for the first time last year, Will said he turned down Inception because he simply didn’t “get” the plot. This was obviously a similar reason as to why he passed on The Matrix, and he admitted that it “hurt” to see both films become massive hits, knowing he could’ve been in them. “Now that I think about it, it’s those movies that go into those alternate realities…they don’t pitch well,” he said.
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So, with Nolan dominating headlines with his latest film, The Odyssey, the footage of Will talking about Inception has started making the rounds on X again — and people are genuinely stunned by his "unforgivable" movie fumbles.
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@NeoGameSpark / Viax.comNone of this is to take away from the fact that Will has had a hugely successful career. However, some wonder whether his path to success might have looked different if he'd been more open-minded about role selection.
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@jeremyb___ / Viax.comCan you think of any other actors who've made a huge mistake by turning down a movie role? Matt Damon passing on Avatar comes to mind, but then again, maybe it was for the best... LMK your thoughts in the comments. You can watch the Inception interview clip here.
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