--- description: "I wanted to make the greatest love story that African-Americans had ever seen" title: Here's Why Will Smith Turned Down 'Django Unchained' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2cea34cbe2aeda62/698872a60b72e309516e6fae/gettyimages-498543482.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [celebrities](/tag/celebrities/) ## celebrities Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here's Why Will Smith Turned Down _Django Unchained_ by [Lucy Wang](/author/lucy-wang/) ## Lucy Wang Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 24, 2015 9:01 PM CUT  Actor Will Smith attends a screening of "Concussion" at Regency Village Theatre on November 23, 2015 in Westwood, California. Actor Will Smith attends a screening of "Concussion" at Regency Village Theatre on November 23, 2015 in Westwood, California.Jason LaVeris—FilmMagic/Getty Images by [Lucy Wang](/author/lucy-wang/) ## Lucy Wang Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 24, 2015 9:01 PM CUT Will Smith has revealed why he turned down the titular role in the Oscar-winning _Django Unchained,_ explaining the creative differences between himself and director Quentin Tarantino. Smith said he wanted to make the gory tale of revenge into a more romantic movie about a “guy that learns how to kill to retrieve his wife that has been taken as a slave,” he said during [_The Hollywood Reporter_’s annual actor roundtable](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/will-smith-mark-ruffalo-four-842621 "undefined"). “I wanted to make the greatest love story that African-Americans had ever seen.” The actor reached for a current symbol of violence to explain why he preferred a “love story” approach over a “vengeance story” one. “We can’t look at what happens in Paris \[the terrorist attacks\] and want to f— somebody up for that,” Smith said. “Violence begets violence. So I just couldn’t connect to violence being the answer. Love had to be the answer.” _Django_ actor Samuel L. Jackson, whose upcoming Tarantino flick _The Hateful Eight_ comes out alongside Will Smith’s _Concussion_ on Christmas Day, seemed to find violence more palatable. “No, man. I don’t have issues with violence in movies. I like those stories,” Jackson said. “I was really disappointed when I was sitting there, watching _Sicario_. I wanted to see those kids’ heads explode. (_Laughs_)” \[[_THR_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/will-smith-mark-ruffalo-four-842621 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4126299/will-smith-tarantino-django-unchained/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4126299/will-smith-tarantino-django-unchained/"},"headline":"Here's Why Will Smith Turned Down Django Unchained","datePublished":"2015-11-24T21:01:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:53:25.262Z","description":"\"I wanted to make the greatest love story that African-Americans had ever seen\"","url":"https://time.com/4126299/will-smith-tarantino-django-unchained/","keywords":["celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2cea34cbe2aeda62/698872a60b72e309516e6fae/gettyimages-498543482.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lucy Wang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lucy-wang/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2cea34cbe2aeda62/698872a60b72e309516e6fae/gettyimages-498543482.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Screening Of Columbia Pictures' \"Concussion\" - Arrivals","caption":"Screening Of Columbia Pictures' \"Concussion\" - Arrivals","creditText":"Jason LaVeris—FilmMagic/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrities/","name":"celebrities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4126299/will-smith-tarantino-django-unchained/","name":"Here's Why Will Smith Turned Down Django Unchained"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch: Concussion Trailer","description":"Watch: Concussion Trailer","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/GDjm8ryr/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-08-31T12:01:20.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/GDjm8ryr.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4126299/will-smith-tarantino-django-unchained/","duration":"PT2M1S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4126299/will-smith-tarantino-django-unchained/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```