Will Smith's comments about his almost-role as the character Django in Quentin Tarantino's blockbuster Django Unchained have many people scratching their heads.
Anyone who saw Tarantino's Django Unchained screenplay before it was produced knew it was going to be a winner. The writing, storyline, and overall ambience of the movie were impossible to ignore. Will Smith even said himself that it was a "genius screenplay." So why did he turn down the opportunity to play one of the starring roles as Django?
Because it wasn't the lead role. Really? Nevermind that the supposed lead role (Christopher Waltz's stellar performance as bounty hunter King Schultz) was given an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, with Django repositioned as the story's lead. The fact remains that Jamie Foxx got an ample amount of lines and screen time, and was lauded for his gutty portrayal as the movie's hero.
Originally, Smith had cited scheduling conflicts as his main reason for not being involved with the project. It has only come to light in the past few days that he could've done the movie but chose not to. Smith states:
"Django wasn't the lead, so it was like, I need to be the lead," Smith said. "The other character was the lead!" Further elucidating his needs, Smith continues, "I was like, 'No, Quentin, please, I need to kill the bad guy!'"
It's true, Waltz's Schultz was the one who killed Leonardo DiCaprio's "bad guy" Candie. Djanjo's character was only responsible for pretty much every other redemptive killing in the movie. Does one's childhood dream of killing bad guys really have to stand in the way of making one of the best spaghetti westerns ever?
Apparently so. The media coverage so far has not painted Will Smith in a favorable light for this decision, and it's not hard to see why. His inability to take a 'lesser' role in many ways points to the egotism running rampant in Hollywood that America seems to love to hate. Why else would a man turn down such an incredible, sure-fire script? Says Smith:
"I came really close, it was one of the most amazing screenplays I had ever ever seen. I was in the middle of 'Men In Black 3' and [Tarantino] was ready to go, and I just couldn't sit with him and get through the issues, so I didn't want to hold him up. That thing's going to be ridiculous. It is a genius screenplay."
But alas, Django didn't get to kill the bad guy.
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