Jack Black is in a lot of movies these days, including that not-very-good Minecraft film and perennial favorites like School of Rock. But he could have been in one more movie, The Incredibles. Alas, he ended up not getting the role as the film’s villain because he asked for a rewrite and was, in his own words, “difficult.”
In a recent interview with Capital FM, while promoting that strange Anaconda meta sequel he’s co-starring in alongside Paul Rudd, actor and musician Jack Black was asked about roles he regrets turning down. According to Black, Pixar offered him the role of Syndrome, the big bad villain in the studio’s 2004 superhero comedy The Incredibles. But Black was, as he put it, “difficult,” and asked for a lot before he would do the movie.
“I was offered—and I do regret saying no—I was offered Syndrome in that fantastic movie The Incredibles, one of my favorites of all time, by the way,” said Black. “And I said no, cause I was like, ‘Uh, Brad Bird? Never heard of him. This character that you’re offering me is a villain, but he’s kind of one-dimensional. I’m interested, but I’d like to see a rewrite. Will you add some dimensions to this character?’ And he was like, ‘You’re done, get out of here.’”
Black explained that he “learned a valuable lesson” from that ordeal as the movie went on to become a big hit that received critical acclaim from fans and critics. “And I was like, ‘Why was I being so difficult?’” said Black. The role would be given to Jason Lee, who would go on to do a great job as the former-fan-turned-lunatic-supervillian.
It seems Black really has learned his lesson about being difficult when offered roles, perhaps a little too well, as he’s now popping up everywhere. Perhaps he should have asked for a few rewrites and changes before playing Steve in A Minecraft Movie. But then again, it made more money than I can count, so at the end of the day, it all worked out for him.
