Will Smith as Neo
He was offered the part.
He would have been amazing.
Will Smith would've slapped the shit out of Agent Smith.
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MovieChat Forums > The Matrix (1999) Discussion > Will Smith as Neo
And Chris Rock as Agent Smith
shareNot really. Unless you would prefer a hip, wise cracking version of Neo.
Aww I know you din't juss shoot no virtual bullets at my ass!
He could have been great.
But then who would have played his Morpheus?
I think they would have never casted two black actors for the main roles.
Goldblum would have been genius, with the same team from ID4.
*cast
The past tense of 'to cast' is cast.
Usually I am a bit of a grammar-national socialist, but I think in some of these cases, where english is just a messed up language, it's OK to do the more human and logical thing and flip the bird to english for clarity. Sometimes you SHOULD use an apostrophe wrong, if it actually makes it more clear what's going on, sometimes you SHOULD use a non-existent word, if it makes your meaning easier to understand.
I think I would actually rather shoot english language in the eye when it comes to 'cast', and just write 'casted', because even though it's wrong, it's still more clear, and sounds more correct - it also would be more logical, when you think about how words usually work.
I absolutely HATE some quirks, like silent letters (I deliberately pronounce knee with a hard K in the beginning), non-plural words ending with 's' (series and news, for example - what the heck is up with those? It is SO tempting to say 'I have a great new!', and I have seen many people say 'serie', when they talk about singular - I am sure there are many more of these).
Still, refreshing to see someone else that hasn't forgotten the english language completely, but you just happened to pick the side of the 'quirks', when I am firmly planted on the side of 'logic' and 'looks good' when it comes to these weirder exceptions in the language.
I ABSOLUTELY hate when I can't 'bend' a word to specify an exact meaning - I want to say 'new' if it's plural, I want to say 'casted', when it's past tense, and as much a grammar-certain political party I am, I just HATE those illogical and annoying exceptions that make no sense to me. After all, logic trumps grammar in my book - even if it is difficult to believe.
It's cast, okay? No exceptions. The context reveals the tense.
shareMessed up in America, yes. Almost childlike in it's idiocy.
In Oz, Ireland and Britain it's just lazy
If Will Smith accepted the part of Neo, then Val Kilmer was going to be Morpheus and Jada Plinkett Smith would be Trinity.
Wachowskis had their whole casting ready.
Few! Okay, I really liked Smith back then, but I liked him because he mostly played likable, goid-natured characters with a sense of humor.. which was NOT what the Wachowskis wanted for this film!
I never liked Smith in serious mode, he's always maudlin or hammy. Keanu was The One for this film, I'm glad he got the job!
It's too late. I can't picture anyone other than Reeves in the role at this point. Maybe they should have did their recent reboot with Smith as a reborn Neo. I can't imagine it would have been any worse.
shareMy mind starts running laps in a cog factory when I think of Will Smith as Neo.
Just out of curiosity, I would love to see that, but at the same time, I can't see him do a good job as Neo in particular. He's a great actor with powerful on-screen charisma, and he's absolutely BRILLIANT in some movies (Men in Black comes to mind), but it would've been hard to take him as seriously or relate to his wise-cracking happy rapper-personality when Agent Smith is interrogating him.
Keanu is not the top actor, but in this role, he fits so snugly, it's difficult to imagine anyone else filling this role. It's like Jim Carrey in Liar, Liar - can you imagine the roles reversed? I mean, Jim Carrey as Neo and Keanu as Fletcher?
That's the kind of mental struggle I am talking about when I try to envision Will Smith sitting there, staring at Agent Smith bitterly and in a cocky way. It would be a completely different scene, and consequently, a completely different movie.
Interesting, but almost scary to think about.. how would the scene with Trinity go when this innocent baldy gets all excited about the Morpheus rescue plan, and Trinity wants to come with him? I shudder to even think about it..
he would ruin film with over actings.
keano reeves is al pacino compare to him hahahahahah.