Will Smith as Neo?!?

[KneeCo]

Will Smith would suck as Neo, he was good at playing a caricature on the small screen but never learned the subtly required for film (yea I think 'Ali' is overrated, formulaic BS, thanks for asking). Keanu did a very good job in the first movie.

There's a lot of instances of this in hollywood history, a much better thread would have been "famous roles and the actors who turned them down".
e.g.:
- Karate Kid: Chuck Norris turned down the part of the Cobra Kai Sensei (SWIPE THE LEG!).
- Sean Connery turned down the role of Gandalf in LOTR.
- Johnny Depp was offered like every male leading role frm 1990 on, including Keanu's eventual roles in 'Speed' and 'The Matrix'.
- Jack Nicholson turned down the role of Michael Corleone in "The Godfather".