Jack Black Reveals His Biggest Cinematic Regret, Making Some Pixar Fans Wonder "What If?..."

While promoting his new movie, Anaconda, actor Jack Black divulged a bit of information that might make some fans wonder what could have been, revealing he rejected an offer to be in a Pixar classic. 

What’s Happening: 

• In a new interview with Capital FM, Paul Rudd and Jack Black are there promoting their new film, Anaconda, when discussing that the two auditioned for the same role in High Fidelity. 
• This led to our hosts asking Jack Black if there was ever a role that he regrets not getting or taking. 
• To the surprise of many, Black answered the question - at first with faux hesitance as to not make the person who filled the role feel like a second choice - before coming out and saying The Incredibles. 
• Originally released in 2004, the Pixar Animation Studios classic follows Bob Parr, a superhero (or “super”) formerly known as Mr. Incredible who went into hiding after Supers were forced into the shadows after lawsuits and public backlash. Now a suburban dad with a boring job at an insurance agency, Bob struggles with the boredom and lives in his nostalgia, secretly hanging out with family friend and fellow Super-in-hiding, Lucius Best (AKA Frozone). In his past, a child with no real powers offered to be his sidekick, “Incrediboy,” but has now grown into a supervillain himself, Syndrome, bent on stripping the world of Supers and giving everyone fake powers - because when everybody is special, then no one will be. 
• It was that very villain, Syndrome, that Jack Black was offered the role to play, as he described in the interview. 
• Black said, “I was offered, and I do regret it, saying no… I was offered Syndrome in that fantastic movie The Incredibles - one of my favorites of all time, by the way - And I said no because I was like, ‘Uhhh, Brad Bird? Never heard of him!’
• Brad Bird was the director of The Incredibles, and outside of animation circles was relatively unknown at the time though he had recently debuted his previous animated film, The Iron Giant, in 1999. He worked at Disney Animation in the 70s and eventually made his way to The Simpsons, where he directed a number of classic episodes and helped shape the show’s smart and cinematic style. The Iron Giant was his first feature and was critically acclaimed, though it did not perform well at the box office. Since then, the film has become a cult classic. The film, and a longstanding relationship with Pixar’s John Lasseter, is what helped bring him to Pixar for The Incredibles. 

• Black continued in the interview, elaborating on what he said while rejecting the offer initially, “This character that you’re offering me is like a villain, but he’s kinda one-dimensional. I’m interested but I’d like to see a rewrite. Will you add some dimensions to this character?’ And [Brad Bird] was like, ‘Yeah, you’re done.'”
• The role would eventually go to Jason Lee, now known for his role in the hit TV series, My Name is Earl, but prior to that known more for his roles in Kevin Smith films, like Mallrats, Chasing Amy, and Dogma. He ended up being a great fit for Syndrome, as he could portray charm and comedy, while simultaneously being bitter, vengeful, and unhinged with a biting sarcastic edge. 
• As Black stated, The Incredibles is now one of his favorite movies of all time and he is not alone in that sentiment. The movie grossed over $630 million worldwide when it was released back in 2004, becoming the highest-grossing animated film that year. It later won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and also garnered a nom for Best Original Screenplay, among others. It spawned a sequel in 2018, Incredibles 2, which became Pixar’s highest-grossing feature ever at the time, grossing $1.24 billion worldwide. 
• Black added that he “learned a valuable lesson because when that movie came out, it was one of the best movies ever made. I was like, ‘why was I being so difficult?’” 
• Black later went on to provide the voice of Po, finding his own animated success in the Kung Fu Panda franchise from Dreamworks, and later as Bowser in The Super Mario Bros. Movie and the upcoming sequel, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie from Illumination.