Denzel's rejections become hits for Smith and Pitt

Hollywood hunks Will Smith and Brad Pitt have a lot to thank Denzel Washington for - he turned down the lead roles in I, Robot and Se7en.

Smith recently scored a huge box office hit in the summer with I, Robot, while Pitt attracted both acclaim and big ticket sales with his 1995 movie Se7en - and neither would have enjoyed such success had it not been for Washington's rejection of the roles.

He says: "I passed on I, Robot, I passed on Se7en. Obviously I didn't pick 'em!"

He adds of Se7en's script: "I was like: 'No, this is just too heavy man, I don't know. Whew!' But when I saw the film I was like: 'Oh shoot!'"