Jack Black revealed during a Capital FM interview that turning down Pixar’s “The Incredibles” is the biggest regret of his acting career. The comedian was offered the chance to voice the movie’s villain role, Syndrome, but passed because he had never heard of director Brad Bird (his only previous credit at the time was 1999’s “The Iron Giant”) and wanted script rewrites. Black now counts “The Incredibles” among his favorite movies.
“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,” Black said. “And I said no because I was like, ‘Uhhh, [director] Brad Bird? Never heard of him!’ [I said to him], ‘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 he was like, ‘Yeah, you’re done.’”
“I learned a valuable lesson because when that movie came out, it was one of the best movies ever made,” Black added. “I was like, ‘Why was I being so difficult?’”
“My Name Is Earl” star Jason Lee went on to voice Syndrome in “The Incredibles,” which won the Oscar for best animated feature and became one of Pixar’s most iconic originals. A sequel, “Incredibles 2,” opened in 2018 and grossed $1.2 billion at the worldwide box office. A third movie is now in development.
Black, meanwhile, would find his own animated movie success by voicing the lead role in DreamWorks Animations’ “Kung Fu Panda” and Bowser in the billion-dollar grossing “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” The comedian is back as Bowser in the latter film’s sequel, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” in theaters April 3.
Watch Black’s full interview with Capital FM in the video below.
The post “Jack Black Rejected ‘The Incredibles’ Offer to Voice Syndrome” by Zack Sharf was published on 01/05/2026 by variety.com