It’s no secret that Will Smith was Quentin Tarantino’s first choice for Django Unchained. The filmmaker’s first foray into Western territory was also poised to be his first time working with the bona fide movie star, making the project that much more enticing. However, Smith ultimately passed and Tarantino moved on to Jamie Foxx, who did a solid job in the role even if the “what could have been” of Smith’s casting still loomed large. At the time, reports swirled that Smith said “no” to the project for fear of harming his squeaky clean image, but that doesn’t necessarily jibe anymore given that he stars in Warner Bros. villain-centric Suicide Squad. So why did he turn down the chance to work with Quentin Tarantino?
In an actor’s roundtable interview with THR for the impending Oscar season, where he was promoting his turn in the NFL drama Concussion, Smith spoke rather candidly about his decision to turn down Django Unchained:
“It was about the creative direction of the story. To me, it’s as perfect a story as you could ever want: a guy that learns how to kill to retrieve his wife that has been taken as a slave. That idea is perfect. And it was just that Quentin and I couldn’t see [eye to eye].”
What, specifically, could they not see eye to eye on? The central thrust of the narrative:
“I wanted to make that movie so badly, but I felt the only way was, it had to be a love story, not a vengeance story,” Smith said. The actor was cautious of the film’s violence. Smith said the only way he would have agreed to make the movie was if Django Unchained centered on a love story, “not a vengeance story.”