Javier Bardem turned down the role of Danny in Minority Report.
"At the time, it was difficult for me to jump into a foreign-language performance,” Bardem said of being offered the role in Minority Report, which ended up going to Colin Farrell. He had already appeared in English-language film Before Night Falls, but wouldn't truly feel comfortable with English until The Dancer Upstairs.
In Will Smith's case for example, if someone just described the concept for " Wild, wild west", it sounds pretty amazing. While you could easily interpret "The Matrix" as: "sounds a bit crazy and out there".
I’m sick of him almost being in every movie.