Will Smith will not be joining Warner Bros. and director Drew Goddard in a new Matrix movie for the studio, insiders tell The Hollywood Reporter.
The Instagram post — featuring Matrix-style computer font — stated: “In 1997, the Wachowski’s offered Will Smith the role of Neo in The Matrix.
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…” The Matrix went on to be a generation-defining hit, while Barry Sonnenfeld’s Wild Wild West was beaten up by critics and flopped at the box office.
There will be no Will Smith joining Warner Bros. Insiders tell The Hollywood Reporter that they are working with director Drew Goddard on a new Matrix film for the studio.
That begs the question of how Smith declined the lead role of Neo in the 1999 sci-fi epic The Matrix, which was directed by Lana and Lilly Wachowski. Smith sparked the mystery on Monday with a mysterious Instagram post.
Using a computer font reminiscent of the Matrix, the Instagram post read: “The Wachowskis offered Will Smith the part of Neo in The Matrix in 1997. Smith resisted. At the time, he thought Wild Wild West was a better fit for him, so he went with it. The question still stands, though: What would The Matrix have been like if Will Smith had played Neo? Get up, Will—The Matrix has you.
While Barry Sonnenfeld’s Wild Wild West was criticized and failed at the box office, The Matrix became a hit that defined a generation. In a rare miss for the box office king of the 1990s, Smith played a gun-blazing former Civil War hero opposite Kevin Kline.
What, if anything, Smith’s Monday post is hinting at is unclear.
The Martian, The Cabin in the Woods, and World War Z author-director David Goddard was chosen to write and helm a new Matrix film for Warner Bros. last year. Although Lana Wachowski will serve as executive producer on the new project, this will be the first Matrix movie not directed by a Wachowski sibling.
When The Matrix was released a little more than 25 years ago, its mind-bending plot, cutting-edge special effects, and Keanu Reeves’ iconic performance captured audiences’ attention. The film, which at the time made $467 million worldwide, became a landmark of popular culture. In order to expand the film franchise, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions were released consecutively in 2003. The Matrix: Resurrections will follow in 2021.
Smith became a well-known rapper and star of the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the 1990s. He also starred in movies like Men in Black (1997) and Independence Day (1996), making him one of the biggest movie stars in the world. Last year, he scored a hit with co-star Martin Lawrence in Sony’s Bad Boys: Ride or Die, which was partly intended to launch Smith’s film career following his 2022 scandal involving the slap of Oscar host Chris Rock on live television.
