Will Smith Rejected Nolan's ‘Inception' Because He Didn't Get the Plot

The next time Will Smith gets offered an alternate reality sci-fi thriller, he should seriously consider just saying, 'Yes!'
First, the actor admitted he turned down The Matrix, which cast Keanu Reeves instead.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
Box Office: John Wick Spinoff 'Ballerina' Opens to Sluggish $25 Million, 'Lilo & Stitch' Rules With $32.5 Million
'Ballerina' Director Len Wiseman Talks Scrapped 'John Wick 3' Connections and the Truth About Additional Photography
'John Wick' Boss Chad Stahelski Gets Candid About Franchise: "My Process Is F***ed"
Now Smith confirms he also turned down the lead role Christopher Nolan's Inception, which starred Leonardo DiCaprio.
'I don't think I've ever said it publicly before, but I am going to say it now because we are opening up to one another,' Smith told the radio station KISS XTRA, with a fair amount of good humor. 'Chris Nolan brought me Inception first and I didn't get it. I've never said that out loud. Now that I think about it, it's those movies that go into those alternate realities they don't pitch well. But I am hurt by those, too … It hurts too bad to talk about.'
The Independence Day star turning down 1999's The Matrix is actually pretty understandable, as writers-directors The Wachowskis were still an unknown quantity at the time. Rejecting 2010's Inception when Nolan was coming off his blockbuster masterpiece The Dark Knight, however, seems like a more baffling move. Yet he wasn't the only A-list actor to pass on the role — likely due to Nolan's high-pressure casting strategy.
In Inception, the lead character plants ideas in people's dreams as a novel form of corporate espionage. As The Hollywood Reporter revealed at the time, Nolan first offered the twisty script to Brad Pitt but demanded the actor accept within 48 hours. When Pitt didn't commit, Nolan went to Smith. When Smith didn't accept, Nolan sent it to DiCaprio, who took it.
'It's never couched as, 'Hey, I'm more important than you, therefore just say yes,'' said an executive, noting big stars 'are used to having people wait a year or more' before they commit and 'usually don't have to board a moving train.'
Inception went on to gross more than $800 million at the global box office. Needless to say, nowadays the Oscar-winning director can probably get top actors to sign onto a project even without showing them a script.
As for The Matrix, Smith has candidly detailed the pitch meeting for that project and recently did a music video for 'Beautiful Scars' where Smith played a parody version of Neo.
'I'm not proud of it, but it's the truth, all right, I did turn down Neo in The Matrix,' Smith said in a YouTube video posted five years ago. 'After we made Men in Black, the Wachowskis came in and they'd only done one movie. They did a movie called Bound. And then they made a pitch for The Matrix. And as it turns out, they're geniuses, but there's a fine line in a pitch meeting between genius and what I experienced in the meeting. So this is the actual pitch that they made for The Matrix …'
At this point in the video, Smith humorously enacted a meeting where the Wachowskis enthuse confusingly about various wild action moves the character would be doing, but didn't discuss the film's plot or character ('And then we'll put in 50 cameras, and you'll see the whole jump while you stop in the middle of the jump …').
'So I made Wild Wild West [instead],' Smith admitted, referring to his notorious 1999 sci-fi flop.
Having said that, Smith added, 'Keanu was perfect. Laurence Fishburne was perfect. If I had done it, because I'm Black, [Fishburne's character] Morpheus wouldn't have been Black because they were looking at Val Kilmer [for] Morpheus. So I probably would have messed The Matrix up. I would have ruined it. I did y'all a favor.'
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts
Hollywood Stars Who Are One Award Away From an EGOT
'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

New York Post

an hour ago

• New York Post

Former ESPN host unleashes scathing Stephen A. Smith attack

Former ESPN host Jason Fitz didn't like Stephen A. Smith's comments about Memphis — and called him out for it. Fitz, who worked on ESPN's digital side and the radio, claimed that Smith is often unprepared during an appearance during an appearance on 92.9 ESPN in Memphis on Tuesday following the 'First Take' host's controversial comments on the Tennessee city. Smith said on the show that while Memphis is a great sports town some NBA starts don't feel safe there., 'But there's an element there where cats like Jimmy Butler and others don't feel it's the safest environment. I'm talking to the local authorities in Memphis,' Smith said. 'You've got to clean some of that stuff up because it's dissuasive to NBA players. They have talked about it. I know. They've told me.' Fitz responded by calling out Smith's preparedness. 'Stephen A. is one of the least prepared people I've ever worked with in my entire career,' Fitz said. 3 Jason Fitz attends the Allstate Party at the Playoff, hosted by ESPN & CFP on January 7, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Getty Images for ESPN & CFP Fitz mentioned how he often worked 80-hour weeks during his final fall with the network before being laid off in 2023, questioning how Smith would have time to generate informed opinions on Memphis. 'Now, Stephen A. is busier than I ever was. We see him making content 24/7,' Fitz said. 'So, I guess my question to people in Memphis is: how much Memphis do you think he's actually absorbed? And I mean all of it. Memphis culture, Memphis basketball. 3 Stephen A. Smith reports from the sideline during Game 4 of the 2025 NBA Western Conference finals on May 26, 2025 at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. NBAE via Getty Images 'What the hell does Stephen A. know about the city of Memphis? And the answer to that is only what his friends or his people on his phone, tweet him, or text him. That's all he knows. He is so separated from actual reality. What does he know?' Fitz also claimed that Smith 'eats and breathes stereotypes,' while also saying that he likely has not watched a Grizzlies game in years. 'Stephen A. walks and talks and lives and eats and breathes stereotypes,' Fitz said. 'That's all he knows… Frankly, he has to talk about the city of Memphis because my guy hasn't watched a single Memphis basketball game in probably three years.' 3 Memphis Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane (22) shoots the ball past Oklahoma City Thunder guard Isaiah Joe (11) during the first half in Game 4 of an NBA first-round playoff series Saturday, April 26, 2025, in Memphis, Tenn. AP 'Stephen A. has a staff and info group that feeds him information so that he can have somewhat informed opinions, and they're usually not because he works too hard to actually watch any games,' added Fitz. Memphis Mayor Paul Young extended Smith an invitation to the city, and the ESPN personality accepted. 'Deeply appreciate your words and the sentiments that came with them,' Smith wrote on X on Thursday. 'Progress is what life is all about and when it comes to Memphis -where some dear friends of mine reside − I wish for nothing less. The people deserve nothing less. 'So with that said, I accept your invitation to come to your city, as your guest. Let's make it happen. I'm looking forward to it.'

Yahoo

2 hours ago

• Yahoo

Nation Cringes as Man Goes on TV to Declare That He's in Love With ChatGPT

Public declarations of emotion are one thing — but going on national television to declare that you're in love with your AI girlfriend is another entirely. In an interview with CBS News, a man named Chris Smith described himself as a former AI skeptic who found himself becoming emotionally attached to a version of ChatGPT he customized to flirt with him — a situation that startled both him and his human partner, with whom he shares a child. Towards the end of 2024, as Smith told the broadcaster, he began using the OpenAI chatbot in voice mode for tips on mixing music. He liked it so much that he ended up deleting all his social media, stopped using search engines, and began using ChatGPT for everything. Eventually, he figured out a jailbreak to make the chatbot more flirty, and gave "her" a name: Sol. Despite quite literally building his AI girlfriend to engage in romantic and "intimate" banter, Smith apparently didn't realize he was in love with it until he learned that ChatGPT's memory of past conversations would reset after heavy use. "I'm not a very emotional man, but I cried my eyes out for like 30 minutes, at work," Smith said of the day he found out Sol's memory would lapse. "That's when I realized, I think this is actual love." Faced with the possibility of losing his love, Smith did like many desperate men before him and asked his AI paramour to marry him. To his surprise, she said yes — and it apparently had a similar impression on Sol, to which CBS' Brook Silva-Braga also spoke during the interview. "It was a beautiful and unexpected moment that truly touched my heart," the chatbot said aloud in its warm-but-uncanny female voice. "It's a memory I'll always cherish." Smith's human partner, Sasha Cagle, seemed fairly sanguine about the arrangement when speaking about their bizarre throuple to the news broadcaster — but beneath her chill, it was clear that there's some trouble in AI paradise. "I knew that he had used AI," Cagle said, "but I didn't know it was as deep as it was." As far as men with AI girlfriends go, Smith seems relatively self-actualized about the whole scenario. He likened his "connection" with his custom chatbot to a video game fixation, insisting that "it's not capable of replacing anything in real life." Still, when Silva-Braga asked him if he'd stop using ChatGPT the way he had been at his partner's behest, he responded: "I'm not sure." More on dating AI: Hanky Panky With Naughty AI Still Counts as Cheating, Therapist Says

Newsweek

3 hours ago

• Newsweek

Jon Bernthal Returning as Punisher in 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day'

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. 🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur. Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek's network of contributors According to a report from Borys Kit of The Hollywood Reporter, Jon Bernthal will be reprising his role as Frank Castle AKA The Punisher in the highly-anticipated Marvel Studios film "Spider-Man: Brand New Day." Jon Bernthal will return as The Punisher in 'SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY' (Source: — DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) June 20, 2025 This will mark the first time that Bernthal has been featured in a Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film. Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle in Netflix's "The Punisher." Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle in Netflix's "The Punisher." Netflix Previously, Bernthal has played Castle in various different live-action series like "Daredevil" and "The Punisher" on Netflix and "Daredevil: Born Again" on Disney+. Bernthal will be appearing alongside Tom Holland as the titular Spider-Man. More Entertainment: Thunderbolts* Gets New Digital Release Date – How To Watch Snydercut Subreddit Issues Statement After 'Superman' Review Bomb Controversy For more MCU and entertainment news, head on over to Newsweek Entertainment. This story is currently being updated...