Will Smith 'Django Unchained' Role Decline: Turned Down Tarantino Film Because 'I Wasnt The Lead,' He Says
Will Smith, one of Hollywood's highest grossing film stars, revealed he was offered a role in Quentino Tarantino's Academy Award-winning Django Unchained but respectfully declined because he "wasn't the lead."
Smith, 44, who will appear in this summer's sci-epic film After Earth alongside his son Jaden Smith, opened up in a recent interview that he was offered the part of a man who plays a sidekick to actor Christopher Waltz's bounty hunter in the controversial film.
"Django wasn't the lead, so it was like, I need to be the lead," Smith told Entertainment Weekly. "The other character was the lead!"
Smith said it was he who suggested to Tarantino, the film's screenwriter and director, to let the film's main character, Django, become the lead character who is central to the story.
"I was like, 'No, Quentin, please, I need to kill the bad guy!'" Smith joked.
Smith, however, has no hard feelings about not being attached to the critically-acclaimed project. In fact he said he feels that the final product turned out "brilliant."
"I thought it was brilliant," Smith said, "just not for me."
Django Unchained is an action western starring Foxx, Christopher Waltz, Kerry Washington and Samuel L. Jackson. It received five 2013 Oscar nominations and Tarantino won the Best Screenplay Academy Award and Waltz won his second Best Supprting Actor Oscar last month.
Django Unchained is currently tied with Seth MacFarlane's Ted in landing the most nominations for the 2013 MTV Movie Awards - both films have a respectable seven nominations each, including Movie of the Year.
The nominees for the 2013 MTV Movie Awards were announced on Tuesday, March 5. Comedic actress Rebel Wilson (Bridesmaids, What To Exect When You're Expecting) will host this year's show. The 2013 MTV Movie Awards will air live on April 14 at 9 p.m. ET. It will be held at the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City, California.
