Will Smith on bringing the spirit of the Fresh Prince to new film Aladdin
After taking some time out, Will Smith is back, in Disney’s live action Aladdin. By Georgia Humphreys
It’s been a while since we’ve seen Will Smith in a new movie. Now he’s back with a bang – as the Genie in the live-action adaptation of Disney classic, Aladdin.
But the 50-year-old is glad he took that break from acting.
“I spent those couple of years really learning and growing and expanding,” says the Philadelphia-born star, whose breakout role was Nineties sitcom The Fresh Prince Of Bel-air.
“I really feel like I got to the ceiling of what I would be able to have and be and do in my life.
“My life had reached what my mind and my education and my emotional intelligence could handle so I felt like I had to really retreat for a minute and grow and now I have new ideas and beliefs and I’m looking forward to creating new experiences.”
One such experience is Aladdin, directed by Guy Ritchie. Set on the streets of Agrabah, the titular character, played by Mena Massoud, is a lovable street rat who believes he is destined for greater things than making a living from petty thievery.
Then, he falls in love with the Sultan’s daughter, Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott), who also has big dreams – of a life beyond the palace walls and away from her overprotective father. And the Genie ends up being particularly key to them having a future together...
Playing the famous shapeshifting blue entity, who’s confined to an oil lamp, came with serious pressure.
Especially as, in the original 1992 animation, he was voiced so memorably by the late Robin Williams, who took his own life in 2014, aged 63.
“What Robin Williams did with the Genie was revolutionary in animation,” continues the actor, who is married to Jada Pinkett Smith (they have two kids together, Jaden and Willow, while Will also has son Trey from a previous marriage).
“Actors didn’t even know you could do that, he introduced an idea and a way to come at these movies.
“So I watched that [the 1992 animation] about four or five times and it was the music that really gave me the in – because of my old school hip hop music background, I felt that I could create a new signature for the Genie.
“What Robin Williams did is essentially infuse the character with his stand-up persona and when I thought about doing the Genie in that way, that got my mind into, ‘Oh, I can just infuse the persona that people have known for the past 20 years into a heightened character and capture a nostalgia, while at the same time creating something new’.”
Smith, whose previous big film roles include I Am
“My life had reached what my mind and my education and my emotional intelligence could handle”
Legend, Independence Day and the Men In Black series, also found encouragement for the role from Jaden (an actor himself, he’s starred in The Karate Kid and alongside his dad in The Pursuit Of Happyness).
After all, there were certain themes that resonated with him thanks to having a 20-year-old son.
“When a film is truly and deeply based on ideas that sit near my heart, that is always helpful,” he says.
“The concepts around Aladdin as a character becoming a man, the concepts around the Genie, giving and helping, these are ideas that I’m excited and proud to go around the world promoting.”
It can’t go unmentioned how brilliantly diverse a film Aladdin is. And that’s something Smith’s young co-star, Canadian actor Massoud, is proud of.
“The diversity in this film, the ethnic representation, it’s just beautiful,” says the 27-year-old actor, who was born in Cairo.
“I think, unlike other films in Hollywood, we’re representing a lot of different ethnicities and diverse actors in this, not just one group, so it’s just a beautiful thing. And we honestly all love each other and get along and it was just such a magical experience.”
Meanwhile, Smith found the variety in the portrayal of the Genie – who he lovingly calls both a “trickster and a mentor” – hugely appealing too.
“This was the first project since The Fresh Prince of BelAir that has used so many of the things that I like to do,” he says.
“In this film, I get to sing and dance and rap and perform and do comedy and drama, so it was a great opportunity to use myself fully as an artist.”
For Massoud it was important when filming the remake to not think too much about it being a “big deal”.
“I just wanted to look at what the character was all about. His journey, his quest for personal identity, falling in love, just the big themes that we wanted to focus on.”
● Aladdin is in cinemas now