The Matrix remains a groundbreaking movie, with CGI slo-mo action that lives and dodges bullets in our heads rent-free decades later. Not only was the action movie a standout for being one of the best films of the ‘90s, but it gave audiences one of Keanu Reeves’ best performances of that decade. If you can believe it, Will Smith was almost cast as Neo in The Matrix, and his recent anecdote explaining why he turned it down actually made his decision more understandable to me.
It’s hard to believe why anyone would turn down the chance to join The Matrix, at least with the hindsight of having seen it. Getting to take part in kickass fight scenes in a digital world of unlimited possibilities sounds too good to pass up. However, Will Smith ended up turning down The Matrix back in the ‘90s after the Wachowskis tried to pitch it to him, and he got real with Sway’s Universe with a logical motivation behind turning it down.
I didn’t get it. When they pitched me The Matrix, I didn’t get it. [The Wachowskis] they pitched — this is what they said to me. ‘Bro, so we’re gonna invent these cameras, right? And what’s gonna happen is you’ll, like, be able to jump but, like, freeze. And then the camera goes around while you’re jumping, frozen. And then you’ll move again. It’s gonna be crazy.’ I was like, ‘I’m making Wild Wild West.’
That hilarious explanation really does make a lot of sense. The Wachowskis probably felt that glorifying the special effects and stunts and preaching their unique vision would have sold their movie to a star who helped turn other sci-fi movies like Independence Day and Men in Black into mega-blockbusters. However, their attempts fell flat on Smith's ears.
Of course The Matrix does have a complicated plot of aliens inserting a realistic, digital world into the minds of unsuspecting humans, all while using them as an energy source. And that technically has nothing to do with the bullet-time cinematography. So maybe if there was fear of the plot going over the heads of prospective choices, the special effects could win them over. Keep in mind that in the ‘90s, CGI was still developing and not common to have a whole movie be so computer-generated heavy like today.
I can understand Wild Wild West being an easy choice for Will Smith to make compared to The Matrix. He’d be reuniting with his Men in Black director, Barry Sonnefeld, and not have to worry about CGI action sequences in a gun-slinging flick. However, the former sitcom actor’s honest take on the box office flop Western was choosing that flick in hopes of becoming “the biggest movie star” compared to believing in the project. Fortunately, the King Richard actor has plenty of excellent performances in his career that make any commercial failures insignificant.
It’s hard to visualize a special effects heavy movie without seeing the finished production. After Will Smith got the chance to see The Matrix, he admitted he finally understood The Wachowskis’ pitch from years ago:
And then I saw it, I was like, ‘You jump and you freeze!’ I was like, ‘That was the right pitch!’ It was terrible… Listen, I pick good most of the time, but I missed that one hard.
Back in 2022, Will Smith said that if he were to time travel to his time in Wild Wild West, he’d tell his younger self he shouldn’t have turned down The Matrix. At the same time, the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air actor also came to the realization that everything was meant to be the way it played out. As it was originally going to be him as Neo and Val Kilmer as Morpheus, Smith acknowledged that it would have been a different movie and that “it’s good the way it is.”
It looks like The Matrix was the big movie that got away from Will Smith. But with a mind-rattling pitch that makes it hard to picture yourself in the sci-fi flick, who could blame him? But, at least Smith would eventually star in I, Robot five years later, which was another unnerving movie about the future of A.I. So, everything really is meant to be.
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