There are few animated characters in cinema as synonymous with the actor who voices them as The Genie is with Robin Williams, in the Disney animated classic “Aladdin.” While there are certainly more prevalent, important, and impactful characters in Mickey Mouse’s vault, you don’t necessarily think Nathan Lane when you hear Timon. However, the moment someone mentions The Genie, Williams’ iconic voice immediately comes to mind, and this is largely in part due to how much of the comedian’s own personality is infused into the character.
When you look at Genie, he’s essentially just a vessel for Williams to deliver everything audiences love about him as a performer to the screen. This is precisely why when it was first announced that Disney would be adapting “Aladdin” to a live-action format that many began to panic about the handling of Williams’s beloved character nervously. Even when the casting of Will Smith was announced, yes, nerves were calmed ever so slightly, but there was still plenty of apprehensions to go around. As it turns out, the Fresh Prince himself was among those apprehensive about the role. However, if anyone could do the big blue fella justice, it would be Will Smith.
During the “Aladdin” press conference, Smith spoke about his initial fear in tackling the iconic character and what helped ease him into the role.
“This is my first Disney movie,” said the actor. “And there’s something that Walt Disney did in the design of these stories that at the core of these stories is something that shocks the inner child within you and forces it to come alive and smile and appreciate the moment. So for me, coming into this, first starting with fear, it definitely started with fear, what Robin Williams did with his character was, he just didn’t leave a lot of room to add to the Genie. So I started off fearful. But then when I got with the music, it just started waking up that fun childlike silly part of me.”
When looking at Genie on paper, there’s really just a basic outline of who the character is, and ultimately the canvas is open for the actor playing him to shape and mold him as they see fit. This is precisely what Williams did back in 1992 and helped Smith in cracking the code of the Genie. The key wasn’t to replicate or imitate Williams; no one could ever do that because there was and only will be one Robin Williams. The key for Smith was to make the character his own by simply being himself and allowing his naturally magnetic persona to inhabit the Genie as Robin did.
As Smith himself mentioned, Disney has a way of awakening the inner child within you, and so once he found that place, Smith was able to begin channeling that charming and charismatic personality we all fell in love with back in his “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” days. And it turns out that his Fresh Prince energy wasn’t the only thing from his early career that allowed him to become the Genie. Smith shed some light on how his early rap career helped him form his version of “Friend Like Me.”
“The song that got me over the hump of yes, I can play Genie, was ‘Friend Like Me,'” he explains. “I went into the studio the first day and I really wanted to play with it to see if I could add something to it. And literally 30 minutes in the studio, and starting to play with it and finding that in that 94, 96 BPM range, we were playing around in there thinking ultimately it was a little bit faster than that. But that 94, 96 BPM range is right old school hip hop.”
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He continued, “So I grabbed the Honey Drippers‘ ‘Impeach The President’ which is a really classic old school hip hop breakbeat. And I had them throw that breakbeat under there. And I messed with that and I messed with Eric B. and Rakim. I know you got sold under ‘Friend Like Me.’ And I was like oh my God. I’m home, I’m home. And then I started playing with the hip hop flavor and then the Genie was really born in my mind from the music. And I understood once I played with ‘Friend Like Me.’”
Even composer Alan Menken praised Smith’s ability to awaken the sleeping blue giant stating, “It was great. Absolutely. I say this a lot. I liken myself to an architect. I design a house that others are going to live in. And Will, you threw a hell of a party in that house. Yeah. And I just loved it. Once he did that, I just go, just back off and let him do what he does. Because it’s so good.” I guess when you have the maestro behind countless Disney classics singing the praises of your work, you’ve done a solid job.
Rest assured, Will Smith’s Genie is a definite highlight that audiences will come to love. 2019’s live-action “Aladdin” is in theaters now.