Jada Pinkett Smith Agreed to Do ‘The Matrix Reloaded’ When She Was Told There’d Be No Nudity

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<p id=”par-1_44″><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/jada-pinkett-smith/”>Jada Pinkett Smith</a> landed her starring role in <em>The Matrix Reloaded </em>after failing <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/the-matrix-reloaded-jada-pinkett-smith-landed-role-after-failed-matrix-audition.html/”>her audition for the first <em>Matrix</em></a>. Although she needed little convincing to do the sequel, she was further sold on the project after learning she’d get to keep her clothes on.</p>

<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-how-jada-pinkett-smith-ended-up-in-the-matrix-reloaded”>How Jada Pinkett Smith ended up in ‘The Matrix Reloaded’</h2>

<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-1″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/The-Matrix-Jada-Pinkett-Smith.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”Jada Pinkett Smith posing at the premiere of ‘The Matrix Reloaded’.” class=”wp-image-3772938″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Jada Pinkett Smith | Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage</figcaption></figure>

<p id=”par-2_101″>The Wachowskis didn’t have to look too hard for someone to play Niobe in <em>The Matrix Reloaded</em>. They already had Pinkett Smith in mind to for the character, so much so the part was specifically written for her. The Wachowskis were already familiar with Pinkett Smith after she auditioned for the first <em>Matrix</em>. But she admitted that she and the film’s star Keanu Reeves <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/jada-pinkett-smith-admitted-she-and-keanu-reeves-didnt-have-any-chemistry-when-she-auditioned-for-the-matrix.html/”>didn’t have enough chemistry</a> for her to be cast in the original movie. Although Pinkett Smith would’ve liked to have secured the role of Trinity, she felt Carrie Anne Moss was the right choice for the character.</p>

<p id=”par-3_43″>“I do wish [I had gotten the part of Trinity],” she once said on <em>The Howard Stern Show </em>(via <a href=”https://www.bet.com/article/9si785/jada-pinkett-smith-keanu-reeves-and-i-had-no-chemistry”>BET</a>). “But I look at Carrie-Anne and I just go, she’s freaking amazing. There’s no way to the world I would have brought that.’”</p>

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<p id=”par-4_52″>Fortunately, she’d found herself circling back to <em>The Matrix </em>franchise. Given how much praise Pinkett Smith had for the first film, she needed little convincing to do its sequel. But the Wachkowskis made their <em>Reloaded </em>offer a little more enticing when they revealed she wouldn’t have had to disrobe for the camera.</p>

<p id=”par-5_55″>“What I loved about Niobe was that she was created for me. … I met the Wachowskis for the first <em>Matrix</em>, so I really didn’t need to read anything when I was told ‘They created this character for you.’ ‘Really? Any nudity?’ ‘Nope.’ ‘All right then! Let’s get it on,’” she once told <a href=”https://www.chicagotribune.com/2003/05/14/matrix-role-was-created-just-for-jada/”>Chicago Tribune</a>.</p>

<p id=”par-6_37″>Pinkett Smith made it a point to <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/jada-pinkett-smith-quit-nude-scenes-movies-giving-birth-jaden-smith.html/”>avoid nudity after giving birth </a>to her son Jaden Smith. Even when she was doing love scenes, the <em>Gotham </em>star would try to do so by keeping her clothes on.</p>

<p id=”par-7_17″>“No nudity, that was always the case for me,” Pinkett Smith said on the<em> <a href=”https://lemonada.lnk.to/LegacyTalkWithLenaWaithePR”>Legacy Talk</a> </em>podcast.</p>

<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-jada-pinkett-smith-wanted-will-smith-to-do-the-matrix”>Jada Pinkett Smith wanted Will Smith to do ‘The Matrix’</h2>

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<p id=”par-8_71″>Pinkett Smith wasn’t the only person in the Smith family who was asked to star in <em>The Matrix </em>franchise. Her husband, Will Smith, was famously offered Reeves’ Neo, only to <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/will-smith-reveals-why-he-really-turned-down-the-matrix.html/”>turn it down</a> for <em>Wild Wild West. </em>Will has been very open about his decision to pass on the project. On his channel <em><a href=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm2szuXKgL8&ab_channel=WillSmith”>Will Smith</a></em>, he humorously recalled the Wachowskis’ pitch to him that ultimately turned him away from <em>The Matrix</em>.</p>

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<p id=”par-9_55″>“After we made <em>Men in Black</em>, the Wachowskis came in and they’d only done one movie. They did a movie called <em>Bound</em>. And then they made a pitch for <em>The Matrix</em>. And as it turns out, they’re geniuses, but there’s a fine line in a pitch meeting between genius and what I experienced in the meeting,” he said.</p>

<p id=”par-10_26″>He conceded, however, that he probably wouldn’t have been a good match for Neo if had he accepted the Wachowskis’ offer. His wife understood his sentiments.</p>

<p id=”par-11_39″>“Will knows for an absolute fact that he couldn’t have done the job that Keanu did. He knows it would have been a different movie with him in it. He thinks he probably <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/will-smith-admitted-he-could-have-ruined-the-matrix-as-neo-heres-why.html/”>would have ruined it</a>,” she said.</p>

<p id=”par-12_23″>But initially, Pinkett Smith actually urged Will to do the film. But he wasn’t as confident in the film’s potential as she was.</p>

<p id=”par-13_29″>“I knew it would be revolutionary. I was like, ‘Will, you’ve got to do this movie!’ He didn’t fully get it, but I did,” she once told <a href=”https://ew.com/movies/2019/11/11/will-smith-son-birthday-the-matrix/”>Entertainment Weekly</a>.</p>