Will Smith says Christopher Nolan offered him Inception, but turned it down because he “didn’t get” the plot

During an interview on the UK’s Kiss Extra radio station (H/T HuffPost), Smith opened up about rejecting Nolan’s mind-bending sci-fi epic.

“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. Chris Nolan brought me Inception first and I didn’t get it,” Smith revealed.

Smith, though, has a reason to go alongside his mea culpa – and it’s largely to do with the dream-within-a-dream concept that proved such a hit with audiencegoers back in 2010.

“Now that I think about it, it’s those movies that go into those alternate realities… they don’t pitch well,” Smith said.

Inception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, and Marion Cotillard, grossed over $800 million at the box office and solidifying Nolan as one of the greatest directors of the 21st Century.

Smith has a fairly potted history when it comes to what-ifs in Hollywood. Infamously, he turned down the role of Neo in The Matrix, a part that was eventually turned into icon status by Keanu Reeves across three movies in the late ’90s and early 2000s.

The Men in Black actor also had the chance to appear in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained but it fell through after Smith had second thoughts. Jamie Foxx was ultimately cast in the titular role.

At the time, Tarantino told Playboy (H/T IndieWire), “It just wasn’t 100 percent right, and we didn’t have time to try to make it that way. We left with me saying, ‘Look, I’m going to see other people.’ He said, ‘Let me just see how I feel, and if you don’t find anybody, let’s talk again.’ And then I found my guy.”

For more, check out the upcoming movies set for release in 2025 and beyond. Then see where Inception landed on our ranking of best Christopher Nolan movies.