During the early days of pre-production for his ninth fully fledged feature film, Quentin Tarantino had one actor in mind to play the titular hero in Django Unchained. And no, at first that actor wasn’t Jamie Foxx. In fact, it was Will Smith who looked set to step onto the director’s revisionist Western. But before filming began, Smith left the production without much explanation, at least, until now.
Here’s what the actor had to say to Entertainment Weekly:
“Django wasn’t the lead, so it was like; I need to be the lead. The other character [Dr. King Schultz] was the lead! I was like, ‘No, Quentin, please, I need to kill the bad guy!’”
The megastar, best known for his roles in Men in Black and Independence Day, is frank about his decision to exit the project. Back in January, Tarantino stated that Will Smith didn’t feel ‘100 per cent’ and that the actor made no fuss about his departure. In truth, Smith’s gravity may have actually eschewed Tarantino’s romp, after all, the 44-year-old is one of the largest stars in Hollywood and has an illustrious history of big blockbuster movies.
Ultimately, it was Foxx who took up the mantle for Quentin Tarantino on Django Unchained and, when you compare the film’s resounding success with what Will Smith is saying, his explanation is somewhat contradictory. Granted, Django may have not been a very talkative central character but he was still very much the crux of the narrative. Besides, didn’t Christoph Waltz win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor?
Regardless, Will Smith concluded his statement by praising Tarantino’s vision.
“I thought it was brilliant,” he commented. “Just not for me.”
Hey, let’s face it; the film did remarkably well without him and it’s not as though he’ll miss the pay check from Tarantino. Will Smith’s next film will be After Earth, which is set for a June 7th release. Meanwhile, Django Unchained will be blasting onto DVD and Blu-ray come April 16th.
What do you make of Will Smith’s comments? Pretty divisive, huh? Let us know below.
