Will Smith Wishes He Had Accepted The Role Of Neo In The Matrix Movies

Will Smith is kind of going through a renaissance of late. He recently starred in the Aladdin movie, in which he played the Genie, and I thought he was brilliant in that film.

His latest movie, Gemini Man, is out in cinemas in which he plays Henry Brogan, an elite assassin who discovers that he’s being hunted by a younger, faster, cloned version of himself.

During a recent red carpet event, Smith was asked a rather pertinent question. He was asked if he could go back in time and give his former self some career advice, what would he say.

His response was very enlighting since he revealed he would tell his younger self not to do Wild Wild West and accept the role of Neo in The Matrix.

“I would say ‘a–hole, why didn’t you do The Matrix,” he replied whilst laughing.

I just asked Will Smith what piece of professional advice he wishes he could give a younger him — his answer:

“Go back to ‘WILD WILD WEST’ and I would say ‘Asshole, why didn’t you do THE MATRIX’?” pic.twitter.com/PkE1R9ljUY

— Jake Hamilton (@JakesTakes) October 7, 2019

Read more: Could Todd Phillips’ Joker Be The Best Comic Book Movie Of The Year?

The story of what happened with Smith and The Matrix movies has gone down in Hollywood history.

The story goes that the Wachowskis wanted Smith to play Neo. They all had a meeting and Smith back out because he didn’t understand the film’s pitch. He had no idea what the directors were trying to sell him.

Smith has spoken at length about what happened during that pitch meeting.

“After we made Men in Black, the Wachowskis, they came in, and they had only done one movie, I think it was called ‘Bound,’ and they made a pitch for The Matrix. As it turns out, they’re geniuses, but there’s a fine line in a pitch meeting between a genius and what I experienced in the meeting,” Smith recalled on his YouTube channel.

The Second Trailer For Will Smith’s New Netflix Movie, Bright, Is Here And It’s Very Strange (Credit: Netflix)

Read more: Why Tomorrow Never Dies Is The Most Underrated Bond Movie Ever

“This is the actual pitch that they made for The Matrix. ‘Dude, we’re thinking like, imagine you’re in a fight, then you jump, imagine if you could stop jumping in the middle of the jump.'”

Smith then imitated his shocked reaction during the pitch meeting, “‘Say that again?'” only for the Wachowskis to continue, “‘But then, people could see around you, 360, while you’re jumping, while you stopped jumping, right? And we’re gonna invent these cameras and then people can see the whole jump while you’re stopped in the middle of the jump.'”

Do you think Smith would have made a good Neo? Let us know in the comments below or on our Facebook or Instagram pages!

And if you enjoy listening to film podcasts, why not check out Small Screen Radio wherever you get your podcasts!