The pre-American Civil War film was a Best Picture Oscar nominee, with Jamie Foxx playing the title character, a former slave on a journey to reunite with his wife.
Writer-director Tarantino earned the Best Original Screenplay Oscar, while Foxx's co-star Christoph Waltz won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role of Django's gun-slinging partner.
"Django wasn't the lead, so it was like: 'I need to be the lead. The other character was the lead,'" Smith told EW.com.
"I was like, 'No, Quentin, please, I need to kill the bad guy!'"
Smith said he liked the way the film ultimately turned out, however.
"I thought it was brilliant," he told EW.com. "Just not for me."
