The Hollywood Reporter had an article up about Kristen Stewart dropping out of the heist movie Focus while Will Smith is considering signing on. While that story really isn’t a Renegade story, the final sentence had a throwaway line that really caught my eye. At one time Warner Bros. was considering casting Will Smith as Lobo.
Let that sink in. Will Smith was in talks to play Lobo.
Straight up, Will Smith is a great actor but he is a pure as apple pie good guy. He has tried dark and gritty and it just doesn’t work. He can do cocky and arrogant, but not in a bad ass way. The closest he can come is his street smart Bad Boys persona.
However, Lobo is dark and dirty. Lobo smokes smelly cigars, rides big bad ass motorcycles and cusses like a sailor. Will Smith was a rapper who was proud to be a clean rapper with no foul language in any of his songs. Will Smith is to Lobo like Mr. Rogers is to Charles Manson.
After that, The Rock was in talks to play Lobo and I can go for that a little more. Actually, if you want a PERFECT Lobo, just cast Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the bad ass bounty hunter. Hell, that was a role JDM was born to play.
Will Smith as Lobo? That’s a f%#$*ing joke.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter