Will Smith turned down ‘the Matrix’ for ‘Wild Wild West’

In 1999, ‘the Matrix’ took over the world with Keanu Reeves in one of the biggest blockbusters of all time, ushering in more challenging genre films and letting wild sci-fi concepts get more recognition. Movie champ Will Smith who had previously led the casts of ‘Men In Black’ and ‘Independence Day’, turned down the lead role for the film. In this video from his YouTube channel, Smith explained why he opted not to do the film and instead chose to do ‘Wild Wild West’. Yeah, that movie basically became a punchline on arrival in theaters.

Pop culture jester Nostaglia Critic dug deep into the misguided mangled mess that was the western action film that had a giant mechanical spider.