By Sandra Birungi

Will Smith decided he could not do ‘Django Unchained’ and he would have been Django, the only problem is, he passed on the role.

The director of the movie, Quentin Tarantino wrote the title role of Django with Smith in mind, and was informally offered the part last spring but instead passed on the role which saw Jamie Foxx step into his shoes. Smith decided to explain why he passed on the role during an interview with Empire.

“I came really close, it was one of the most amazing screenplays I had ever ever seen,” Smith said. “I was in the middle of ‘Men In Black 3′ and [Tarantino] was ready to go, and I just couldn’t sit with him and get through the issues, so I didn’t want to hold him up. That thing’s going to be ridiculous. It is a genius screenplay.”

“We spent quite a few hours together over a weekend when he was in New York doing ‘Men in Black 3′. We went over the script and talked it out. I had a good time – he’s a smart, cool guy,” Tarantino said on catching Will for the movie role. Despite the disappointment in Will, Foxx managed to pull of the character quite well.

Django Unchained combined elements of comedy, violence, revenge and slavery to hook the audience and, it worked.

The movie has some of the biggest names in the cast including Jamie Foxx as Django Freeman, Christoph Waltz as Dr. King Schultz, Leonardo DiCaprio as Calvin J. Candie, Kerry Washington as Broomhilda Von Shaft, Samuel L. Jackson as Stephen, Walton Goggins as Billy Crash, Dennis Christopher as Leonide Moguy, James Remar as Ace Speck/Butch Pooch and David Steen as Mr. Stonecipher.