Will Smith was reported to be Quentin Tarantino's first choice to play the role of the slave-turned-vigilante in Django Unchained. So why didn't he take the role?
Having been somewhat vague about the decision in previous comments, he's now confessed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. that Django's role, while central to the plot, just wasn't quite big enough for him:
"Django wasn't the lead, so it was like, I need to be the lead. The other character was the lead!" says the Men in Black star, whose departure opened the door for Jamie Foxx to play the role. Smith says that before he left the project, he even pleaded with Tarantino to let Django have a more central role in the story. "I was like, ‘No, Quentin, please, I need to kill the bad guy!'"
At least he's honest. Smith also told EW that he was a fan of the final version starring (he'd probably disagree with that characterization) Jamie Foxx. "I thought it was brilliant," he says. "Just not for me."
Let us know how you felt about Django and other hit films in The Root's March Movie Madness tournament.
Read more at Entertainment Weekly.