9 Actors Who Quit Major Film Roles

6. Will Smith €“- Superman

Will Smith Superman
Warner Bros.

It's a well-known belief that some perceive Hollywood to be a tiny bit racist. While we're definitely past the Birth Of A Nation days, and some might even argue we've outgrown that bizarre black-guy-dies-first trope, it's still believed that casting directors prefer roles to be ethnically whitewashed, if just for the sake of accessibility.

Of course, the one person this very visibly doesn't apply to is Will Smith. Smith's pulling power dwarfs conventional casting rules, allowing him to pick and choose his projects and make conventionally white heroes (for example Wild Wild West's Jim West) more ethnically diverse without picking up the sh*tstorm someone like Idris Elba would for being picked as Heimdall.

Yet when he was offered the Superman role, even he balked. Smith believed that if he did take this conventionally white role, he'd experience such a fan backlash that his career would've been forever tainted. So he turned it down, eventually donning the superhero mantle and alcohol bottle in the flawed Hancock.

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Contributor

Durham University graduate and qualified sports journalist. Very good at sitting down and watching things. Can multi-task this with playing computer games. Football Manager addict who has taken Shrewsbury Town to the summit of the Premier League. You can follow me at @Ed_OwenUK, if you like ramblings about Newcastle United and A Place in the Sun. If you don't, I don't know what I can do for you.