MovieChat Forums > Django Unchained (2012) Discussion > Keeping your bias’ in check, is anyone e...

Keeping your bias’ in check, is anyone else disappointed Will Smith decided to walk away from a Tarantino collaboration in Django Unchained?

posted 2 years ago by DancingintheDark (1803)
6 replies | jump to latest

I feel as though passing on Django was the second biggest mistake of Will’s career, the first being assaulting Rock at the Oscars. In my opinion, Django would have been a career defining performance for Will. I’m a big fan of Django Unchained, it is one of my favorite films as well as one of my favorite Tarantino films. Usually when an actor kills a role like Keanu in The Matrix or Arnold in The Terminator, it’s nearly impossible to imagine any other actor stepping in and even though I feel like Jamie did an amazing job in Django, I can still see Will in the part, and doing a better job on top of it all. This is not a dig at Jamie btw, I loved his performance, I just think Will would have done it better. And as much as my opinion of Will Smith had changed since he violently assaulted Rock, I still would have loved to see a collaboration between him and Tarantino.

[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7954) a year ago

I can't keep my bias. I like Will Smith in Bad Boys, Independence Day, and Men in Black but he was the wrong choice for Django. I think the role would have been more comedic if Will Smith were in it.

[–] strntz (12773) a year ago

I think Foxx was great in Django, but I think Smith could have pulled off Django well enough to make the movie great.

I think Smith could have pulled off the dramatic part, but what I especially about Foxx's performance is the hard edginess that would have been more difficult for Smith.

I don't think you have a bias, at least as far as his disgusting an inexcusable behavior at the Oscar broadcast - you have an honest opinion.

[–] strntz (12773) a year ago

I always wished I could have an "Alternate Universe" tablet - one that I can program different situations into history and push "play" to watch the result (like what if Hitler was assassinated in 1939 - how would the world be aligned today?).

So I could plug in Will Smith for Django and watch the result.

I think Smith would have done fine, but I think Foxx's raw grittiness was more befitting an abused slave.

[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7954) a year ago

Something where I think like that is when I watched Last Action Hero and in Jack Slater's world, Sylvester Stallone is the Terminator.

[–] roger1 (4026) a year ago

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR DJANGO UNCHAINED

But I think Will Smith eventually spelled out exactly why he would NOT take the role in Django: he didn't feel that Django was the true hero of the piece, he felt it was the white German, Dr. Schultz, played by Chris Waltz. Smith said something like "how come HE gets to kill the main villain? Why doesn't Django do that?"

Smith was making the case that he had built his career on being a "traditional leading man action hero" and Django simply wasn't written that way.

Indeed, Django starts the movie rather "primitive and unspeaking" as a slave and gains sophistication as the story goes along, as mentored by Dr. Schultz. It is only when Schultz kills Calvin Candie and dies in the process that Django can "step up" and become the full hero of the film. Probably too late in the story for Will Smith to accept.

Thus, the only way that Smith WOULD have accpeted Django Unchained is if QT changed the script to make Django a hero start to finish and-- QT would not and could not do that. Game over -- off to Jamie Foxx(who joined a long list of actors made into stars because a bigger star turned down a role.)

The movie as we have it indeed has a certain "balance to the plot":

The white hero(Chris Waltz) kills the white villain(Leo) and dies himself.

"The table is cleared" for the black hero(Foxx) to kill the black villain (Sam Jackson) at the climax.

But Will Smith couldn't agree to that dimunition of his superstar persona.

[–] jk90us (8139) a year ago

No. He gets on my nerves and would have overplayed the role. Made it goofy. Foxx did a much better job.