Brad Pitt confirmed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, where he received the Maltin Modern Master Award, that he passed on The Matrix, telling the crowd “I did pass on The Matrix. I took the red pill.” He clarified he was only ever offered the first film, not the sequels, and chalked the decision up to a simple philosophy: he said any role that slipped away was simply never meant to be his. Keanu Reeves ultimately played Neo, after Will Smith also walked away from the role.

Back in January 2020, on stage at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Brad Pitt dropped a confession nobody had asked for. Picking up his Maltin Modern Master Award, he casually named the one part he’s ever regretted passing on: Neo, in The Matrix. He took the red pill, he told the crowd, then quickly clarified that only the first film ever landed on his desk, never the sequels. Turns out he’s far from alone on that particular list of almost-Neos, and Pitt himself hints the full tally of roles he’s dodged would fill two nights of television.

A red pill confession in Santa Barbara

Accepting the Maltin Modern Master Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on January 22, 2020, Brad Pitt let slip a piece of Hollywood history. He admitted he had turned down the role of Neo in The Matrix, the 1999 sci-fi landmark. “I did pass on The Matrix. I took the red pill. That’s the only one I’m naming,” he said.

Only the first film was on the table

Pitt was quick to shut down any embellished version of the story. “I wasn’t offered two or three. Only the first one. Just to clarify that,” he explained. The part ultimately went to Keanu Reeves, whose performance turned Neo into one of the defining screen heroes of his generation.

Pitt showed no bitterness about the near-miss. “I come from a place, maybe it’s my upbringing, if I didn’t get it, then it wasn’t mine,” he said. In his view, the role always belonged to someone else.

A long line of actors said no first

Pitt was hardly alone in walking away from the Wachowskis’ script. Will Smith also declined Neo and chose Wild Wild West (1999) instead, a decision he later ranked among his least proud career moves. He even recalled the original pitch: “I had Neo. It was going to be me, and Val Kilmer was Morpheus.” Smith belongs to a surprisingly crowded club, as several actors passed on Neo before Reeves signed on.

Nicolas Cage said no as well, telling MTV in 2007 that he had declined both The Matrix and The Lord of the Rings. He later explained that he turned down both franchises to spend more time with his family. “There was a couple of movies that I was offered, but I had good reasons, so I couldn’t do it,” he said.

Pitt’s pile of passed projects

The Matrix is only one entry in a much longer catalog of roles Pitt let go. He joked about it himself on the Santa Barbara stage: “If we were doing a show on the great movies I’ve passed on, we’d need two nights.” The franchise he skipped kept growing without him. The Matrix Resurrections, the fourth installment directed by Lana Wachowski, brought Reeves back as Neo and landed on HBO Max in the US on December 22, 2021.