Will Smith's Steampunk Sci-Fi Western Is Leaving Paramount+: How Long You Have Left

It’s well-established Hollywood lore that Will Smith passed on the lead role in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained because he thought that the character eventually played by Christoph Waltz would steal the show. But did you know that Smith also passed on the role of Neo in The Matrix? He felt that the Wachowskis were too green, and wasn’t impressed by their pitch. Instead, he starred in one of the most infamous disasters of the 1990s. The movie in question hasn’t exactly found a fanbase in the years since its release, despite having all the makings of a cult curiosity. But it’s currently streaming on Paramount+, which may encourage an entirely new generation to give it a shot.

The film was released in 1999, featuring a reunion between Smith and his Men in Black director Barry Sonnenfeld. Coincidentally, the film happens to be a big-screen adaptation of a Western television series, much like the ill-fated The Lone Ranger film that Johnny Depp and Gore Verbinski worked on several years later, in an attempt to recapture the success of their Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. The Lone Ranger emerged as a critical and commercial flop, with Depp subsequently returning to the Pirates franchise, as Smith later did with the Men in Black series. But the 1999 film remains a blot on both Smith and Sonnenfeld’s resumes.