{"id":214197,"date":"2019-05-13T23:25:07","date_gmt":"2019-05-14T03:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=214197"},"modified":"2019-05-13T23:25:07","modified_gmt":"2019-05-14T03:25:07","slug":"will-smith-calls-aladdin-remake-highlight-of-his-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/05\/13\/will-smith-calls-aladdin-remake-highlight-of-his-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Smith calls ‘Aladdin’ remake highlight of his career"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Speaking to reporters in Amman, Jordan on Monday at the regional premiere, Smith, who plays Genie, said the musical movie \u201ccalled upon every talent I cultivated\u201d throughout decades as an actor, rapper and media personality. (File Photo<\/a>: @disneyaladdin\/Instagram<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

AMMAN, Jordan \u2014 Hollywood star Will Smith says that Disney’s live-action remake of \u201cAladdin\u201d was \u201cone of, if not the best experience\u201d of his accomplished 30-year career.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters in Amman, Jordan on Monday at the regional premiere, Smith, who plays Genie, said the musical movie \u201ccalled upon every talent I cultivated\u201d throughout decades as an actor, rapper and media personality.<\/p>\n

Smith, who vaulted to fame with the 1990s sitcom \u201cThe Fresh Prince of Bel Air,\u201d suggested that his provocative performance involves singing, comedy bits, action sequences and even Bollywood-style dance numbers \u2014 \u201ceverything short of boxing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film pays homage to the Academy Award-winning original 1992 animated film starring the late Robin Williams, who played the memorable voice of Genie. Smith said Williams’ performance in the original film \u201crevolutionized what actors thought we could do in these kinds of movies.\u201d<\/p>\n

When first asked to take on the role of Genie, Smith said he demurred, intimidated by the big shoes to fill.<\/p>\n

But he said his son Jaden convinced him not to pass up the opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the first person that really saw the excitement around the idea of what I might do with it,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

Inspired by Williams’ performance, which Smith said \u201cdidn’t leave too much room for improvement,\u201d he tried to capture a similar sort of nostalgia, inflecting the human Genie with 1990s \u201chip hop energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The adaption was mostly shot in the vast Jordanian desert of Wadi Rum, famous in the West as the backdrop for 1962’s \u201cLawrence of Arabia,\u201d with its immense rock formations and rolling sand dunes.<\/p>\n

Smith said the film aimed to \u201cbe a love letter to the region,\u201d and encourage young viewers to visit the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Production designer Gemma Jackson, acclaimed for her work on the HBO series \u201cGame of Thrones,\u201d constructed the fictional country of Agrabah as a composite of Arabian and\u00a0South Asian\u00a0landscapes, intended to conjure lavish oriental fantasies.<\/p>\n

\u201cAladdin,\u201d directed by Guy Ritchie, premieres in the United States on May 24, and a day earlier in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AMMAN, Jordan \u2014 Hollywood star Will Smith says that Disney’s live-action remake of \u201cAladdin\u201d was \u201cone of, if not the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":214200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-214197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214197"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":214201,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214197\/revisions\/214201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}