Will Smith would have been disastrous in The Matrix and now I want to see it

Imagine the tie-in music video he would have done.

With the squid machines doing hip hop dances in the background

If memory serves me right the protagonist in Inception was confused a lot and Wil can pull off confused.

Alot of Scientologists I see as using it as a way to grift and enrich themselves. Smith I can see being dumb enough to fall for it.

Fixed

From the interview I heard they pitched the matrix terribly.

Woo, ha-ha ha-ha.

But he took Wild Wild West, Hancock, and I Am Legend. Okay.

Most likely Leo DeCaprio’s role.

IDK he might be, he certainly is a dick. but also you don't usually get to read the whole script (definitely not the final script) before choosing to accept a role, they may only get a scene, maybe just an elevator pitch etc.

Real eyes realize.

I wonder if someone explained to him The Matrix is a transgender allegory.

I'm imagining his robot hating Detective Spooner from iRobot, walking around the matrix being pissed off. Or in inception confused and pissed off.

I only ever heard this pop up after the sisters transitioned. I really dont get it? Its so much about freeing yourself from the cycle of control and misinformation that was prevalent even in the 90s

Well, hindsight is 20/20, but he also doesn't have the best history of choosing hits. Maybe it's his manager? Maybe he's dumb.

He's definitely an asshole, though.

Given that he turned it down for Wild Wild West, use that as a basis.

Clearly no one told Elon.

Not trans but I see how it’s an allegory. You live your life with how people expect you to be, while in reality you’re in a goo-filled pod pretending to be normal. You know there’s something wrong but you can’t put your finger on it until someone shows you.

It goes to show how deep gender dysphoria is. It’s not just how you present to other people, but how you exist in the real universe, not the projection that society places on everyone, enforced by secret forces that are so deep in the bedrock of reality that they possess the bodies of anyone to enforce their wills.

Also now I get why trans folks use the term eggs.

(Man my high school English teachers would be proud of me for this.)

Hancock was fantastic, fuck the ending being coherent it's an action comedy

Challenging ideas

really?

If memory serves me right the protagonist in Inception was confused a lot

Dicarpio's character wasn't confused, you may be thinking of Elliot Page's character, but I wouldn't count that character as the main protagonist.

Not everyone likes convoluted scifi.

I personally do.

But there are a lot who don't.

Sean Connery turned down both Gandalf in Lord of the Rings and Morpheus in The Matrix because he didn't understand the scripts. He turned down Dumbledore in Harry Potter because it was too fantastical. Then he tried a reverse approach where he accepted the next role he didn't understand, because clearly that was where the money was at. So he accepted Allan Quartermain in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, a movie which flopped hard. Then he ragequit the industry and retired.

“It’s [current year] blazing saddles.”

“It’s Martian manhunter but demon in a bottle”

“It’s Dracula, but from Dracula’s perspective.”

They’re interesting premises and easily understood. I can’t knock smith for choosing them. You never know what’ll end up on the editor’s floor. There might have been a better cut somewhere in there

The movie made a decent bit of money, just terrible reviews.

I love that movie, I thought he did great in it too

I barely remember it. I was pretty high at the time.

This feels like a spot-the-difference thing, and I’m failing badly. I can’t tell what changed.

?

Statement vs question

?

Back in the late 90s, I have no idea how you'd pitch that any other way. It's a miracle that movie got made.

Its so much about freeing yourself from the cycle of control and misinformation

Yeah, like being trans

Damn I didn't notice that about the agents, you're right. When you're trans, anyone on the street or even your family can transform into a monster that wants to kill you.

I believe even the Wachowski's said they pitched it terribly. Apparently they focused on bullet time and did a terrible job explaining it. So nothing made sense. Then you realize it was a new age Film Noire, and that wasn't exactly going to entice funding. Other than Keanu Reeves I don't think any of the cast was well known, and I'm not even sure how big Keanu Reeves was. Other than Speed it was an odd assortment of movies for him.

Here's will smith https://youtu.be/hm2szuXKgL8&t=70

Like Smith literally keeps dead naming Neo through the whole film. It’s about breaking free from the world that controls you to be who you’re supposed to be.

I didn’t think of it until I heard the theory either but when you look back on it, it’s definitely there.

Keanu was big. Bill & Ted was iconic, after that he was in Point Break, a fairly successful action flick and Speed was massive. Yeah he did some more niche stuff like Johnny Mnemonic, but makes me think he makes more sense for something like the Matrix. Will Smith opted for Wild Wild West over Matrix, which obviously wasn't a success, but fit with the kinds of movies he was doing at the time.

Makes sense for a guy to go from Speed to Johnny Mnemonic to the Matrix, and it also makes sense for a guy to go from Bad Boys to Independence Day to Men in Black to Wild Wild West.

In school my RE teacher was trying to tell me about how so many films are about Jesus.

TBF I love the Matrix and I had heard that before so I mentioned it and she said "yeah thats a good one"

But so many things can secretly mean something if you really want it to. Really the good guy goes through growth and saves everyone then dies. Is basically like the main story humans like to tell. 90's was big on "the world isn't what you see it is. It's broken and we can build something new" like fight club, is that a trans move? Is that about Jesus? I dont think so.

I'm proud of you right now! Hell yes!

-a trans woman

AI BROS, DO YOUR THING!

It's just an infinite number of Will Smiths eating an infinite amount of spaghetti.

Same here. It’s a fun action romp with some interesting characters. I get that it’s not peak cinema but it’s still good.

Some of the CGI in it is insanely good too (the invisible man), Corridor Crew did a react episode or two about it.

They also wanted the character Switch to be trans and switch genders between the Martix and Real Life, but the executives stopped it.

It can be a transgender allegory, but that's just one valid interpretation.

Keanu was famous, but the way I remember it he wasn't a huge box office draw yet.

Django Unchained too.