Aladdin star Will Smith talks Robin Williams, bringing hip-hop flavor to Genie

Will Smith has tackled almost every genre of entertainment, but he’s never been a big, blue magical being who lives in a lamp — until now.

Stepping into the role of the Genie in Guy Ritchie’s live-action Aladdin, Smith told the Entertainment Weekly that he wanted to both pay homage to the late Robin Williams’ Genie from the iconic 1992 animated Aladdin film, but also bring his own signature comedy to the role.

Below is his interview with the publication:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did you feel about taking on the role of Genie, especially after Robin Williams?

WILL SMITH: I produced The Karate Kid with my son Jaden, so whenever you’re doing things that are iconic, it’s always terrifying. The question is always, where was there meat left on the bone, and with the Robin Williams character, Robin didn’t leave a lot of meat on the bone. For me, the first aspect was it was live action, so that meant it would look and feel really different, so I was encouraged by that. And secondarily, after I watched the movie a few times, I saw where Robin Williams infused the character with a timeless version of himself, so I said to myself, “What if I just infuse the character with a timeless version of myself?” And then that opened up for me… hip-hop, it opened up fashion. Because the Genie is timeless, you get to really say and do anything so I started to feel confident that I could deliver something that was an homage to Robin Willians but was musically different and 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.

A Disney executive had described the Genie as “part Fresh Prince, part Hitch.”

That was the thing I latched onto with Robin Williams. What made the Genie special is that even though he was in a period piece, the Genie had been forward and backwards in time, so because the Genie knew all things from all time, the references and the way that he spoke and the energy that he brought to the character was of a specific era of Robin Williams. I wanted to do that and I really picked that period, the 1990 to 1996 period of what people most remember of the arc that I had created and tried to build a character that lived in that time and space, so it felt nostalgic but also new.

Robin’s version of the Genie very much incorporated his style of comedy and stand-up, his talent for impressions. What kind of comedy did you want to bring to your Genie?


There’s a little bit less mimicking — there’s a James Brown piece that we do but a little bit less mimicking. The thing that will be the major addition from me playing the Genie is the hip-hop base. I think that’ll be fun for people. I think it’ll stand out as unique even in the Disney world. There hasn’t been a lot of that hip-hop flavor in Disney history!

Speaking of songs, Guy mentioned there’s a few new songs but which one was your favorite to see reimagined in this?

It’s hard to beat “Friend Like Me.” That was the first song I recorded. It’s funny, I recorded it on a day that we weren’t even scheduled. It was the first meeting, I came in and I was just meeting everybody, my deal wasn’t even all the way done but I was like, “I think I’m really considering this,” and I went in and met the guys doing music and we recorded “Friend Like Me.” So it was just hand and glove. It fit so perfectly that we all really got inspired about the idea of me being Genie after listening to two hours’ of work in the studio with no preparation. 

Were you surprised when you heard Guy Ritchie was doing this film? What does he uniquely bring to the tale of Aladdin?

When you think timeless Disney classic, you’re not really thinking Guy Ritchie, but that’s a part of what makes it special. He brings a beautiful edge to the look and feel and the reimagining of Aladdin. Even casting — the way that he wanted to cast, everything had a little bit more flavor. He was pushing the envelope while maintaining that nostalgic Disney beauty with the action sequences and the music background. He’s giving you real current edgy flavor while delivering the fun and the beauty and the emotion, and also the comedy. I think that’s the thing people will be surprised [about] —that just where [Ritchie’s] sense of humor lies is a really unique way into Aladdin, the types of things that he thinks are funny, the way he thinks about the character of Aladdin as a real street guy… he’s thinking of Aladdin in those terms, so the aspects of the comedy is coming from a uniquely Ritchian space.