Before Jamie Foxx there was Will Smith…
Imagine how Django Unchained would’ve turned out if the titular character was not played by Jamie Foxx but Will Smith. Back in 2011 it was no secret that Quentin Tarantino was heavily eyeing Smith to play Django, an idea that had mixed reactions from everyone following the project. While Will Smith is a box-office draw and has built an astonishing career, portraying an angry slave freed from his chains seeking to annihilate slave-owners would have been uncharted territory for the Fresh Prince.
As time went on, Jamie Foxx led the pack for a potential Django and eventually went on to snag the role. Initially, Smith explained that turning down the role was simply due to scheduling conflicts with Men in Black 3, but while promoting After Earth, his latest father-son tag with Jaden, Smith reveals the actual reason for skipping the part.
In an interview with EW, Smith had the following to say “Django wasn’t the lead, so it was like; I need to be the lead. The other character was the lead!” He went on recalling a conversation with Tarantino “I was like, ‘No Quentin, please, I need to kill the bad guy!’” Looks like Will Smith wasn’t willing to stand behind Christoph Waltz but still had favorable things to say about the film, “I thought it was brilliant. Just not for me.”
Ben Lester (bjams11)
