Will Smith says he felt some kind of way playing the big blue genie in his latest film, Aladdin.
In fact, the 50-year-old actor says it actually made him feel “sexy.”
Smith was cast as the iconic character in Guy Ritchie’s live-action take on the classic tale and he said he felt very confident in his appearance during filming.
He told “Entertainment Tonight”: “I was feeling sexy about myself as the genie. I felt sexy about myself.”
And he admitted he aspires to be like the genie in real life.
He said: “This movie has a lot of really great ideas that I love, and the concept of the genie, somebody whose whole existence is dedicated to helping people find themselves and create the lives that they want, that aspect is almost the purest definition of love. So for me playing the genie — you’re always looking for something that you can connect to with a character that’s authentic — that devotion and dedication is what I aspire to with my life.”
However, Smith previously admitted he worried he wouldn’t be able to match the performance given by the late Robin Williams, who voiced the character of the genie in the 1992 animated adventure.
He said: “‘The genie will say anything or do anything, there’s a certain madness to the genie — that was the fun that Robin Williams created so I was trying to find what that meant, with a little more of a ‘Fresh Prince’ twist to it.
“I wanted to create something that was both nostalgic but also had a little bit new school sometimes…
“It was quite stressful and daunting. Robin Williams did not leave much room to improve on the genie.
“Fun is what Robin Williams did so well with the genie and I’ve been trying so hard to capture that.”
