When it comes to the classics of cinemaand sometimes the dregsits always fun to think about what mightve been.
Can you imagine Robert Redford as Michael Corleone?
What about Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones?
And its an interesting challenge to envision what Tim BurtonsBatmanmightve been if it starred Bill Murray versus Robin Williams.
The casting of Neo inThe Matrixis another legendary what if?
Plus, he looks pretty rad in sunglasses while performing Kung fu.
What would it have been like if the movie featured Big Willie himself, Mr.Will Smith, as Neo?
Instead he made a movie he publicly hates: 1999s less-than-classicWild Wild West.
Smith said that as a laugh line, but in all seriousness, why didnt he?
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Back in 1998 whenThe Matrixwas getting underway, Smith was on top of the world.
Smith was also in between hit radio chart toppers like Miami and Gettin Jiggy With It.
It was like however I threw the ball, it was going in.
[The Wachowskis] came in and they made a pitch forThe Matrix, Smith said.
And as it turns out, theyre geniuses!
But theres a fine line in a pitch meeting between genius and what I experienced in the meeting.
Imagine you could stop in the middle of the jump, Smith said while adding a thick accent.
But then people could see around you 360 while you stopped jumping.
So I madeWild Wild West, Smith deadpanned at the end of his story.
In a more candid interview withThe Hollywood Reporterin 2016, Smith was blunt about why he passed onThe Matrix.
I found myself promoting something because I wanted to win versus promoting something because I believed in it.
Smoke and mirrors in marketing and sales is over.
People are going to know really quickly and globally whether a product keeps its promises.
I consider myself a marketer.
I have to be in tune with their needs and not trick them into going to seeWild Wild West.
Said Smith, Its not like it wouldve been like [the movie we got].
Laurence Fishburne was perfect.
I was going to be Neo and Val Kilmer was going to be Morpheus.
So I probably woulda messedThe Matrixup!
Did they think audiences really couldnt handle two Black men in a blockbuster that wasnt a comedy or copaganda?
(Smith was also starring in theBad Boysmovies at this time).
But ultimately Smith is right, if he was the star, it wouldve had a knock-on effect.
Perhaps Kilmer really would have played Morpheus.
Still, its sometimes amusing to imagine what that movie mightve been…
