Um, but this is all kinds of ridiculous. Django is the lead, maybe not the ONLY lead (though the Academy clearly thinks that he is the only lead), but certainly the lead. He's no more or less lead there than, say, in Men in Black or the Bad Boys films...

It sounds like he just wanted to be the one to

Yeah, the dynamic between Django and Schultz is like, the exact same as Men in Black - old guy teaching new guy the ropes of a trade, and eventually handing him the reigns by the end of the movie. Yes, Smith's career is in a much stronger place than it was fifteen years ago, but c'mon. He still would've been top-billed, the movie is still named after his character, and

How lame. But the movie was awesome anyway, and I don't see Smith bringing much more to the role than Foxx did, so whatever.

He is an idiot, though I do agree he would have given much fun to the character

Django > Men in Black III

I think that was more Tarantino's doing than Foxx's, and probably another reason Smith erred away from it. Django is definitely a less exciting character than Schultz most of the time, but I feel like that was a big point of the film. Making Django into another Will Smith role would lose the power of watching him grow into a ruthless badass over the course of the movie (Though I know a lot of people disagree with me on that).

Though I must say, could you imagine how even bigger the movie would've been if Smith actually signed on (Without changing anything)? It probably would've broken at least $200 million in the U.S., and overseas it might've even flirt with $400 million.

I like Will Smith a lot but that's one of the most hilariously egomaniacal interviews I've ever seen.

Smart move - - Jamie Foxx didn't get nearly enough attention for his great performance in this - - Tarantino let the showier roles upstage Django.

Oh Will.

I agree, Django is easily Tarantino's least substantial lead character in his films. Most of the film is him listening and taking Schultz lead, with him not really doing anything until the other's passing.

However, that scene when they are walking to the Plantation and Django starts coming into his character, Smith would have totally rocked that scene.

Smith is a big head. Fame has gone to his head. He used to be ok.

Wow.

I think he would've been more enjoyable in the movie than Foxx though. Sad.

Django might be the man character, but Schultz had all the lines. There wasn't much to Django. Would have been fun to see what Smith did with it, but I can see what he means.

By "the lead", he just means some meatier material. Dicpario and Schultz got a lot of good monologues; Django just had some cool one liners and nothing else. Smith would have been entirely miscast, imo. The Fresh Prince (plays him in every movie) as a bounty hunter? Just...no. Too charismatic to portray a slave.

The interview is obviously a little bit tongue in cheek, with him quoting about he said to Quentin.

But I think he's point is actually pretty solid. At this point in his career, his fans have certain expectations of him. When he takes on a big action role where he's playing the titular character, his fans expect him to be the central presence.

Moreover, in the script the role of Django probably seemed much smaller. There were probably constantly like 5-15 page dialogue scenes where everyone else is talking, except for Django. In the movie, you can see him in the pictures, he's presence is felt, even when he's not doing much.

On the pages of screenplay it probably often seemed that the character disappeared for long stretches of time, with very little to do.

Oh, please. He is an asshole megalomaniac. Even a figure such as Tom Cruise, no doubt a man with an oversize ego and an enduring desire for movie-star glory, did not say, "Listen, Paul, I am enjoying this Magnolia script. It is fresh. But I am not a big fan of how my character is not in every scene, to be honest. Let's fix this, and I'm in."

It would be cooler if he just smiled and said he is now scared of any script in the neighborhood of artistic or serious and would rather just run around in front of green-screen bellowing, "Everything on this planet has evolved to destroy humanity!" for 20 million dollars.

I dunno. For whatever reason, I have trouble seeing Will Smith fitting into the Tarantino universe. A further problem is that he's one of those stars that is so big that he might have come across too much as Will Smith rather than Django. But alas, we'll never know.

Will Smith could never pull off a slave. He's actually a bad actor because he always plays Will Smith.

Foxx is a good actor.

Foxx was still the weakest link of the cast tho.

That is pretty much exactly what I said. Smith could never pull off playing a slave, he is too charismatic and happy.

He's black. He's always fighting an uphill battle.

Will Smith can't play this kind of a role imo.

I'm happy Smith didn't take the part. Foxx actually works really good as Django, much better than I expected, especially on a second viewing. Also, I can't stand Smith's 'serious' acting. His grumpy face in the After Earth trailer alone makes me want to watch that movie less.

It makes me want to punch him.