Will Smith Explains Why He Turned Down Neo in 'The Matrix' to Instead do 'Wild Wild West'

Will Smith just admitted he turned down the role of Neo in The Matrix, eventually played by Keanu Reeves, and instead chose to make Wild Wild West.

“I did turn down Neo in The Matrix,” Will admitted, saying he wasn’t proud of his decision!

To explain the whole story, Will went back to his days right after making Independence Day.

“I had done Independence Day the year before, so I was like ‘eh, I’m not doing another alien movie.’ So I turned down Men In Black,” Will said. He explained that Steven Spielberg called him and convinced him to do Men In Black.

He then went on to share that after the success of Men In Black, he was asked to meet with The Matrix directors Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski, and explained their pitch to him in the meeting.

“There’s a fine line in a pitch meeting between fine line and genius,” Will said, before imitating their actual pitch. Lets just say, their pitch was a little all over the place!

“So I made Wild Wild West,” Will said. “I’m not proud of it!”

“Keanu was perfect. Laurence Fishburne was perfect,” he said, adding that if he was cast then Val Kilmer would have played Laurence‘s role.

Watch the entire story below…