An absolute sci-fi masterpiece that brought Will Smith the disgrace of his career

The iconic role of Neo in the Matrix trilogy gave Keanu Reeves’ career a huge boost in the late 90s. Today, the star is back in fashion, largely because of the John Wick series, but the actor’s career might have been very different if it hadn’t been for the starring role in the Wachowskis’ sci-fi franchise.

While you can watch The Matrix again tonight at 8:15 p.m. on Kabel Eins, one superstar has a very different relationship to the film than Reeves. Matrix has Will Smith for biggest mistake of his career tempted. At least until the 2022 Oscars happen…

Will Smith’s mistake also got him a huge flop

In 2019, Will Smith spoke to Cinema Blend about what decision he made in his career today cancel would. Smith said clearly:

I would to Wild Wild West come back and I’d be like, ‘Asshole, why didn’t you do Matrix?’

Check out the trailer for the first Matrix movie here:

The rest of the story is known. Matrix evolved into a box office hit and classic, while Wild Wild West was mostly torn apart by the critics and flopped at the box office.

In 2019, Will Smith also explained in a video for his YouTube channel the exact reasonswhich is why he turned down the Neo role in The Matrix at the time:

Smith talks about how the Wachowskis’ offbeat action concept inspired him back then way too abstract and impossible to realize. As a result, he probably had little faith in the sci-fi blockbuster and turned down the lead role.

By the way, if you want to see how Will Smith would have done as Neo in The Matrix, you can check out this (rather amusing and rather bizarre) deepfake video look at:

A notice: We have published this article in a similar form before.

*. .

Can you imagine Will Smith as Neo in The Matrix?