This deepfake of Will Smith playing Neo in The Matrix will blow your mind

Will Smith is well known for specialising in sci-fi blockbusters but he narrowly missed out on one of the genre's biggest-ever hits.

The star dominated in the 1990s and early 2000s, starring in massive summer tent-pole movies like Independence Day, Men in Black, I, Robot and I Am Legend but he did miss out on the lead in The Matrix, arguably the cinematic event of the decade, unwisely turning it down to make the decidedly less revered Wild Wild West instead.

The Wachowski's influential action film of course starred Keanu Reeves as Neo, the computer hacker who comes to learn that reality as he knows it is in fact merely a computer simulation that he has been chosen to bring an end to, leading a rag-tag rebellion against the sinister Agent Smith and his digitally-generated legion of doppelgangers.

But in the age of the deepfake, nothing is impossible and Smith needn't harbour regrets anymore

From Alison Brie talking with Jim Carrey's face to Donald Trump and Mike Pence starring on RuPaul's Drag Race, an actor's face can simply be mapped onto existing video footage these days, often with extraordinary results.

Now, that's exactly what has happened to Will Smith.

Thanks to YouTube channel Sham00K, he has his chance to star in The Matrix after all.

Well, the trailer at least.

More: This deepfake video of Alison Brie with Jim Carrey's face is genuinely terrifying