Will Smith: A Whole New World

The actor chats about the highly anticipated remake of Aladdin and why his role is different from any other he’s taken on before

Will Smith made audiences keel over with laughter on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, kept them at the edge of their seats in big-budget blockbusters like Independence Day and even moved them to tears with his Oscar-nominated performance in The Pursuit of Happyness. But the Hollywood superstar says none of those roles compare to his latest as Genie in the live-action remake of Disney’s Aladdin. “I have 30 years of entertainment under my belt and this is the first film that actually called on this many aspects of what I’ve cultivated over the years,” says Will, 50. “To be able to sing and rap and dance and do action and special effects — just all of that to come together in one film was really a spectacular job for me to be able to do.” Here, the father of three — Jaden, 20, and Willow, 18, with wife Jada Pinkett Smith, and Trey, 26, from a previous relationship — chats about taking on the role, his advice for his young costars and paying homage to the late Robin Williams.