Will Smith teases The Matrix on social media, which may have to do with the new movie that is in development at Warner Bros. from Lana Wachowsk and Drew Goddard.
Update: Variety is reporting Smith is not involved in the new Matrix movie and that it may have something to do with Smith releasing a new album, the first in 20 years, said to be a cyberpunk-related venture involving music.
Original article continues:
Smith was actually up to play Neo back in 1997 which went to Keanu Reeves, as Smith instead chose to do Wild Wild West. Well, we know how things turned out, and the rest they say is history.
Well, history might get a chance to repeat itself but Will Smith might be starring in a new Matrix movie. On Monday, Will Smith posted the following video seemingly teasing his involvement in The Matrix 5:
“In 1997, the Wachowski’s offered Will Smith the role of Neo in The Matrix. Smith turned it down. He chose Wild Wild West, believing it was a better fit for him at the time. But the question remains: What would The Matrix have been like with Will Smith as Neo?
Wake up, Will…
The Matrix has you…”
Why did Will Smith turn down The Matrix?
Back in 2019, Will Smith released a video explaining why he turned down The Matrix offering that when The Wachowski’s first pitched him the movie it didn’t sound all that good:
Alright. This one of them stories I’m not proud of, but it’s the truth. I did turn down Neo in The Matrix. Hold up, y’all jumping to conclusions. That [1996] was like a crazy time in my life. It was like however I threw the ball, it was going in. I had done Independence Day the year before, so I was like, ‘Nah, I’m not doing another alien movie. I don’t want to be the alien-movie-guy.’ So I turned down Men In Black. And Steven Spielberg called me, the producer. He was like, ‘Why did you turn down the movie?’ I was like, ‘You know. I just don’t want to be the alien guy.’ He said, ‘Do me a favor. Don’t use your brain for this one. Use my brain.’ He was so serious, that I was like, ‘Alright. He did do Jaws [laughs].’ You just get in that universal energy and nothing can’t go wrong. Then the other side comes and you can’t do nothing right.
So after we made Men In Black [1998], The Wachowski’s, they came in, and they only did like one movie, I think it was called Bound. And they came in and made a pitch for The Matrix. And as it turns out, they’re geniuses, but there is a fine line in a pitch meeting between genius and what I experienced in the meeting. So this is the actual pitch that they made for The Matrix:
In the Wachowski’s voice: Dude, we’re thinking like, imagine you are in a fight, and then you like jump. Imagine if you could stop jumping in the middle of the jump.
As Will Smith: Say that again.
In the Wachowski’s voice: But then people could see around you. 360 while you’re jumping. While you’re stop-jumping, right. And then we are going to invest in these cameras, and then people are going to see the whole jump while you stop in the middle of the jump.
As Will Smith: [Silence]
So I made Wild Wild West. I’m not proud of it. Like you know you see people, that Monday, I was like, ‘Hey guys, sorry. Hey, listen. I’m working on Bad Boys 2. Don’t worry about it. Sorry.’ But it ain’t like it would’ve been that… Keanu was perfect. Laurence Fishburne was perfect. If I had done it, because I am black, Morpheus wouldn’t have been black because they were looking at Val Kilmer. I was going to be Neo. Val Kilmer was going to be Morpheus. So I probably would have messed The Matrix up. I would have ruined it, so I did ja’ll a favor.
The Matrix 5 details
Again, it’s unknown if Will Smith has been cast as the new Neo in the fifth Matrix movie which is currently in development. It’s also unknown if Keanu Reeves, Carrie Anne-Moss, Laurence Fishburne, Hugo Weaving and Jada Pinkett Smith are coming back for the fifth film.
The flick was announced last April, which was a surprise as it was thought The Matrix Resurrections was the last in the franchise, which was released in 2021 and wasn’t all that good.
The details include co-writer and co-director Lana Wachowski is executive producing the new film.
Drew Goddard is writing, directing, and producing with partner Sarah Esberg (Moonlight, If Beale Street Could Talk) via their Goddard Textiles production company.
Jesse Ehrman, Warner Bros Motion Pictures President of Production, said in a statement at the time:
“Drew came to Warner Bros with a new idea that we all believe would be an incredible way to continue the Matrix world, by both honoring what Lana and Lilly began over 25 years ago and offering a unique perspective based on his own love of the series and characters. The entire team at Warner Bros Discovery is thrilled for Drew to be making this new Matrix film, adding his vision to the cinematic canon the Wachowskis spent a quarter of a century building here at the studio.”
Drew Goddard said at the time:
“It is not hyperbole to say The Matrix films changed both cinema and my life. Lana and Lilly’s exquisite artistry inspires me on a daily basis, and I am beyond grateful for the chance to tell stories in their world.”
