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Why Will Smith turned down Django Unchained

Los Angeles - Will Smith turned down Django Unchained because he wasn't the lead character.

The actor was originally pegged to play the titular freed slave in Quentin Tarantino's Oscar-winning spaghetti Western film - the role which eventually went to Jamie Foxx - but reveals he passed on the part because he felt Christoph Waltz's Dr King Schultz was the main character, not Django.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, he said: "Django wasn't the lead, so it was like, I need to be the lead. The other character was the lead!"

'Not for me'

"I was like, 'No, Quentin, please, I need to kill the bad guy!'"

Despite Smith perceiving Waltz's character to be the lead, the actor went on to be nominated for and win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor at last month's Academy Awards ceremony, while Foxx was billed as the film's star.

Despite turning down the film, the Men in Black 3 star admits he thoroughly enjoyed the finished product, which also stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L Jackson and Kerry Washington.

He said: "I thought it was brilliant. Just not for me."

Smith will next be seen in sci-fi blockbuster After Earth, which co-stars his son with Jada Pinkett-Smith, 14-year-old Jaden.

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