Minecraft star Jack Black reveals he turned down playing Syndrome in Pixar classic The Incredibles, and now he regrets it: "Why was I being so difficult?"

Syndrome firing a laser blast from his finger — (Image credit: Pixar)

Jack Black has played his share of iconic roles ever since his 2003 breakout film School of Rock. But around that same time, the actor says he turned down a role in another iconic film that he regrets not being part of: Pixar's The Incredibles.

Black told Capital FM that he was offered the role of the film's villain, Syndrome (voiced by Jason Lee in the movie), but turned it down. However, upon seeing The Incredibles, which the actor called "one of the best movies ever made," he says he learned an important lesson about Hollywood.

Article continues below

"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," he continues. "And I said no cause I was like, 'Uh, Brad Bird? Never heard of him. The 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 re-write. Will you add some dimension to the character?' And he was like 'You're done, get out of here.' I learned a valuable lesson, because then the movie came out and it was one of the best movies ever made. And I was like, 'Why was I being so difficult?'"

TOPICS

I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011, and now I'm the Entertainment Writer at GamesRadar+. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.