During an interview with THR to promote his latest film Concussion, Will Smith has been talking about his decision to turn down the lead role in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, which of course then went to Jamie Foxx.
Previously, Smith has stated that he passed on the project as he felt Christoph Waltz’s character Dr. King Shultz was the lead character as opposed to Django, but now he’s said that he was also concerned by the level of violence, and wanted to see “a love story, not a vengeance story.”
“It was about the creative direction of the story,” states Smith. “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].”
“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,” he continues. ” We can’t look at what happens in Paris and want to fuck somebody up for that. Violence begets violence. I just couldn’t connect to violence being the answer. Love had to be the answer.”
Are you disappointed that Smith and Tarantino couldn’t see eye to eye on the creative direction for Django Unchained? Would it have worked better as a love story? Let us know your thoughts…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=ROisAvdW5SY
Originally published November 26, 2015. Updated April 15, 2018.
