Can’t a brother live? Will Smith‘s new look for playing the genie in the live-action version of “Aladdin” dropped this morning and Twitter is having a field day. The A-list star has been getting clowned for hours.
Walt Disney revealed Entertainment Weekly did a cover story, see the image below:
https://twitter.com/DisneyStudios/status/1075383325580128257
In the story, Smith told the outlet, “Whenever you’re doing things that are iconic, it’s always terrifying. 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.” He is referring to Robin Williams who played the genie in the 1992 version. The 2019 version hits theaters May 24..
Smith continued, “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.” He recorded a version of “Friend Like Me,” which is the genie’s famous song. He also said, “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.”
Will Smith and Disney are getting dragged hard for the look — so it certainly is unique. See the reactions below:
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What could Will Smith possibly have done to deserve this? Jada is gonna have to do a whole episode of “Read Table Talk” about this hair piece. pic.twitter.com/wMm5fysIg0
— Saeed Jones (@theferocity) December 19, 2018
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Aladdin is my favorite Disney movie ever. As much as I like Will Smith in movies overall, this looks more like a Broadway play advertisement than a movie. Not sure how to feel until it comes out. pic.twitter.com/s6zk30l4Fd
— Alex Jebailey (@Jebailey) December 19, 2018
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Yeah. Yeah... it took me a minute but that’s my assessment. “This sure is a Will Smith starring in Aladdin.” I feel like I’m looking at somebody’s community theater play. Will Smith freaking looks like Hanna-Barbara’s Shazzan pic.twitter.com/Xk8KQvnvXs
— Jonathan H. Gray is... ✪ Exhausted & Drawing ✪ (@jongraywb) December 19, 2018
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So uhhh...good morning. Look what they did to Will Smith 😳😬 pic.twitter.com/HA9UTNwJV1
— Film Junkee (@DaveePena) December 19, 2018
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Can’t believe Will Smith stole Aoki’s look. pic.twitter.com/p17sVm77oX
— Rick Fox (@rickhfox) December 19, 2018
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I... I didn't realize Will Smith was actually going to be on camera. I thought he was just doing voice work for a cgi genie... pic.twitter.com/sv9gcARJWj
— Raggedyman (@The__Raggedyman) December 19, 2018
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Will Smith’s genie.. pic.twitter.com/dins8XecZB
— tày (@tinnkky) December 19, 2018
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What I am Kazam 2 staring Will Smith pic.twitter.com/VYLdGsOgp7
— Michael ward (@ward8810) December 19, 2018