Will Smith Revealed The Shocking Reason He Turned Down "Inception," And I Honestly Can't Believe It
Inception is, without a doubt, one of Christopher Nolan's most beloved films. The 2010 sci-fi actioner made over $837 million worldwide, and it got nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture. (It ended up winning four, too: Best Cinematography, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects.)
Among many other things, the film featured an iconic performance from Leonardo DiCaprio as protagonist Dominic Cobb — and, as it turns out, we came very close to getting a different person in that role instead.
The person in question: Oscar-winning megastar Will Smith — who recently revealed to Kiss Xtra that he was offered the role of Dominic first, and ultimately turned it down.
Now, actors turn down roles all the time. This is especially true in Will's case: Back in 2019, he revealed that he once passed on the lead role in the also-legendary action film The Matrix. But his reasoning for walking away from Inception — a high-concept film that admittedly takes a few viewings to really absorb — is, well, pretty interesting.
'I don't think I've ever said it publicly but I am going to say it because we are opening up to one another,' Will said. 'Chris Nolan brought me Inception first, and I didn't get it." Since Will was specifically offered the role, what he presumably means when he says he didn't "get it" is that he quite literally didn't understand the plot of Inception.
"I've never said that out loud," he admitted. "Now that I think about it, it's those movies that go into those alternate realities… they don't pitch well." He also went on to say that it "hurt" to pass on Inception and The Matrix, only to watch them become so successful afterwards.
Joy Malone / GC Images
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