One Role Will Smith Regrets Taking, And One $250M Role He Regrets Letting Go
Even Hollywood pros make mistakes sometimes.
There's no doubt that Will Smith is at the peak of his career right now.
Beginning his acting career as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the sitcom that focused specifically on him, it was only natural for the actor to grow into the celebrity that he is today.
Humorous, incredibly talented, and charismatic, despite all the controversy that has surrounded him over the past year, Will Smith remains on top of the game.
It is hard to imagine his career going any better than it has. Being one of the few A-listers to star in an extremely popular franchise and earn $100 million from a single film is an accomplishment in itself.
But like any actor, Smith has his own regrets. He shared some of them publicly during an interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
When asked what advice he would give to his younger self, the actor admitted that he doesn't think he would need any.
If anything, he'd ask his younger self for advice now, considering how fearless and empowered he felt in his 20s. There were only two things he felt were worth mentioning:
"I would go back and I would say "Hey man, don't do Wild Wild West!" I would say "Dude, do Neo!" Because I got offered The Matrix ".
Although Will Smith didn't go into detail about these two movies, the reason for his regrets is pretty self-explanatory.
Wild Wild West, which was released in 1999, was not only critically panned, but also commercially unsuccessful.
Despite having such talented co-stars as Kevin Kline and Salma Hayek, the movie didn't look good as part of his career path.
The Matrix deal speaks for itself, as the role of Neo not only gave Keanu Reeves the success and recognition any actor could desire but also brought him a lot of money.
The actor reportedly earned around $250 million for all the franchise roles. Anyone would regret turning down such a role, but audiences are glad that Smith did.
Although he's an incredibly talented actor, it's hard to imagine anyone else as Neo, so in the end, everything turned out exactly as it had to.