There's been a lot of talk about Disney's upcoming live-action remake of Aladdin. The first look photos of the movie have just made their way online, and fans attention have been caught by Will Smith's Genie. The late Robin Williams' rendition of the character was pretty iconic, and many want to know just how Will Smith plans to recreate the magical djinn.
However, instead of following in the shadow of Williams, Smith and Aladdin director Guy Ritchie are hoping to build their own version of Genie for the film. Speaking in an interview with Entertainment Weekly for the magazine's cover story on Aladdin, Ritchie tries to explain their method of creating Genie for the Aladdin remake, saying that they were going to try to infuse Smith's personality into the character to separate him from Williams' version of the character.
"The great thing about the role of the Genie is that it's essentially a hyperbole for who that individual actor is, so it's a wonderful platform and tapestry for an actor to fill his boots on," Ritchie told the publication.
Smith has a natural charisma to him, and according to one Disney executive, the actor's version of Genie comes off as "part Fresh Prince, part Hich."
According to Smith, playing the part wasn't that easy, and so he decided to take some inspiration from all the other roles that he played in the past.
"Whenever you're doing things that are iconic, it's always terrifying," Smith said. "The question is always: Where was there meat left on the bone? Robin didn't leave a lot of meat on the bone with the character."
Though the actor wanted his version of Genie to stand out, Smith didn't want to compete with Williams' iconic performance of the character, so he decided to go with something musically different.
"[He] infused the character with a timeless version of himself. I started to feel confident that I could deliver something that was an homage to Robin Williams but was musically different. Just the flavor of the character would be different enough and unique enough that it would be in a different lane, versus trying to compete. I think it'll stand out as unique even in the Disney world," Smith added. "There hasn't been a lot of that hip-hop flavor in Disney history."
It's definitely going to be interesting seeing Smith play Genie on the big screen. We can't wait and see how he fares.
Aladdin premieres May 24, 2019.
Read: First Look at Live-Action Aladdin Cast is...Interesting?
Explore new topics and discover content that's right for you!
Fandoms