Leading man: Will Smith at the New York premiere of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, in June In an interview withEntertainment Weekly Will spoke candidly about his reasons for turning down the iconic role that eventually went to Jamie Foxx.
The father-of-three explained: 'Django wasn’t the lead, so it was like, I need to be the lead. The other character was the lead!'
The 'other character' the Hancock star was referring to was the bounty hunter - and Django's mentor - Dr. King Schultz played by Christoph Waltz.
Second pick: Jamie Foxx as the freed slave-turned-bounty-hunter in Django Unchained, in 2012Will claimed that before he resigned from the project he tried to convince director Quentin Tarantino to give Django a more central role in the plot.
The rapper-turned-actor playfully revealed: 'I was like, "No, Quentin, please, I need to kill the bad guy!"'
While the story pivots on Django - who is the emotional core of the film - Waltz's character does get the satisfaction of killing Leonardo Dicaprio's evil slave owner.
All-star cast: Jamie with co-stars Christoph Waltz and Leonardo Dicaprio in the Django Unchained movie posterDespite Will's perspective on the character dynamics of the film Jamie Foxx was promoted as the movie's lead.
And in an ironic turn Waltz's performance was viewed as a supporting one during the awards season.
Though the Austrian-German actor did get all of the best lines and scene-stealing moments - garnering him his second Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.