Will Smith’s starred in so many famous movies that it’s sometimes hard to ever comprehend the features he’s never gotten off the ground. Who can think about projects that never were when famous Bad Boys or Independence Day quotes are rattling around in your brain? Like any movie star, though, Smith has become attached to a slew of high-profile productions that never saw the light of day. In some cases, it sounds like it was better to leave the project on the cutting room floor in favor of superior Smith titles like I Am Legend or Enemy of the State.
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Others still fascinate the brain for a multitude of reasons. Maybe it’s because a certain unmade production promised to explore a new exciting side of Smith as an actor. Perhaps another would’ve teamed him up with an extraordinary filmmaker. Others just had enticing plotlines that could’ve been cool to see Smith navigate. Whatever the reason, these seven unmade Will Smith movies are insanely compelling to contemplate. If only we’d gotten some of these titles instead of, say, Bright or Emancipation.
Oh, and sorry The Matrix, but we’re exploring lesser-known unrealized Will Smith star vehicles. Everyone knows Smith could’ve been Neo. These other unmade features are much more under the radar!
Steven Spielberg’s Oldboy remake
Long before Spike Lee and Josh Brolin’s Oldboy remake hit theaters, director Steven Spielberg and Will Smith very nearly collaborated on an English-language remake of Park Chan-wook’s 2003 masterpiece. Oldboy does not need an English-language remake, the original feature works perfectly as is. However, the idea of these two men specifically engaging in such a bleak movie tantalizes the mind. How would the star of crowd-pleasers like I, Robot depict Oldboy’s grisly twist? Alas, the world would never know. This project collapsed in late 2009, depriving the world of seeing Smith go full Oldboy.
The Legend of Caine
In the late 2000s, Smith was attached to star in The Legend of Caine, a fresh take of the Cain and Abel Bible story. Naturally, since this project was announced a month after Twilight’s premiere, The Legend of Caine would’ve told this ancient story with vampires. In 2012, Sony picked up the project, and, in yet another twist, Smith wanted to direct. To date, this man has only two directing credits under his belt: one for directing an episode of All of Us in 2006 and another for helming a 2017 YouTube video. Everything about this bonkers project sounds so weird that it would be a dream to see it come to the big screen.
The Suspicion Remake
In early 2010, Smith was angling to anchor a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s beloved 1941 thriller Suspicion, The project saw a newlywed couple thrown into chaos when the wife believes her new spouse might murder her for a significant inheritance sum. Smith would’ve played the spouse role originally inhabited by Cary Grant. The thought of a Hitchcock film getting remade by producer Michael Bay is a horrifying thought. However, the prospect of Smith playing such a morally murky role is even more enticing.
[RELATED – No, Will Smith’s Not Starring in The Matrix 5 (but the Movie Could Still Happen)]
Fantastic Voyage
One of the many incarnations of a modern Fantastic Voyage remake saw attached director Shawn Levy announce he’d only go through with the VFX-heavy project if Will Smith starred in it. The thought of mixing Smith and a retro-sci-fi-adventure yarn like Fantastic Voyage sounds a recipe for summer blockbuster fun. Plus, Smith could be a consistently engaging and distinctly human anchor against a heightened trip inside the human body, just like he provided a great relatable fixed point in past sci-fi projects like Men in Black.
The City That Sailed
For the longest time, Will Smith was attached to a very stylized family drama entitled The City That Sailed, which concerned a dad stuck in Manhattan who misses his daughter (stuck overseas) so much that Manhattan breaks loose and begins to float towards the man’s offspring. Deadpool & Wolverine helmer Shawn Levy was once attached to the project, which doesn’t quite sound like the ideal filmmaker to handle this material. Get somebody better at mixing raw pathos with deeply fantastical material like J.A. Bayona or Vera Drew, and this movie could really sail to creative heights.
Harvey
In 2009, Steven Spielberg announced he was pursuing a remake of the Jimmy Stewart star vehicle Harvey, with the two main choices for the film’s lead role reportedly being Tom Hanks and Will Smith. While Hanks has constantly been compared to Stewart, Smith most certainly hasn’t. That makes the idea of him anchoring Harvey much more interesting, since it would immediately offer something new compared to the original film. Plus, Smith and Spielberg clearly wanted to work together, and it’d be great to see what kind of cinema emerges from that collaboration.
Brilliance
Will Smith won’t let the project Brilliance go. First attached to the production in the mid-2010s, this high-concept sci-fi movie would’ve seen Smith directed by future Captain America: Brave New World director Julius Onah. Anyone who’s seen Onah’s excellent 2019 film Luce knows this filmmaker works great with actors. Seeing what Smith would’ve done under Onah’s watch captivates the mind. Smith’s fervent conviction to this production also makes one curious how Brilliance would turn out. After all, he was re-attached to headline Brilliance as late as 2022 when it got a new director in the form of Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.
