Aladdin Genie: Will Smith admits ‘It was TERRIFYING being asked to follow Robin Williams’

Back in 1992, the late Williams starred as the Genie in Disney’s animated musical Aladdin. Now as the live-action remake arrives this month, Smith feels he has some big shoes to fill. Appearing on The Graham Norton Show this week, the 50-year-old opened up about how scared he was to follow on from the comedy genius. He said: “It was actually terrifying for me getting the first call.”

Smith continued: “It was a deep honour being asked, but Robin Williams didn’t leave much room for improvement.

“He revolutionised what you can do in animation.

“I watched the movie a couple of times and it was only when I started playing with the music and rapping that it gave me an ‘in’ to maintaining the nostalgia and paying homage to Robin Williams’ genie while adding a new flavour.”

The actor also paid tribute to Williams in another interview last month.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Smith said: “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] infused the character with a timeless version of himself.

“I started to feel confident that I could deliver something that was a homage to Robin Williams but was musically different.”

WHY WILL SMITH REALLY TOOK THE ROLE OF THE GENIE

Smith added: “Just the flavour of the character would be different enough and unique enough that it would be in a different lane, versus trying to compete.”

The actor said he’s based his Genie on an amalgamation of his characters from his 1990s catalogue ala Independence Day, Bad Boys and, of course, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

He added: “I think it’ll stand out as unique even in the Disney world.

“There hasn’t been a lot of that hip-hop flavour in Disney history.”

Aladdin is released in UK cinemas on May 22, 2019.