Will Smith is no stranger to criticism. As one of Hollywood’s favorite leading men, he’s had more than his fair share of flops over the years. From Wild Wild West to After Earth to Bright, Smith’s career is far from flawless. His casting as the Genie in the upcoming live-action remake of Aladdin, however, seemed to suggest that the Oscar nominee could be in the midst of a career resurgence.
That is, until fans caught a glimpse of what his portrayal of Genie would actually look like. First, the Internet was infuriated that the character was not blue like he was in the original. Smith assured fans that the Genie would indeed be blue though, as the world quickly found out when a trailer dropped earlier in 2019. Somehow, the Internet reaction became even worse then. It became so bad, in fact, that Disney had to issue a statement in regards to the brutal backlash they were getting.
Criticism like this might rattle many actors, but not Smith. In fact, he says he found the entire ordeal to be pretty laughable:
It was very funny. There was a Sonic The Hedgehog / Genie frog. Everything is under such critical scrutiny. I came up in an era where there was no internet. It’s a new thing that I’m trying to get a handle on.
Despite how young he looks – both in the Gemini Man trailer and in real life – it might surprise people to know that Smith is 50 years old. Bad Boys, Independence Day and Men in Black all came out well before the age of Internet trolls. While Jayden Smith might be an expert at navigating the world of social media, his movie star father is just like most middle-aged dads: trying his best to figure it out as he goes along.
It remains to be seen if the actual movie will receive as much hatred as the trailer has or if Disney will once again have another huge box office hit on its hands. Either way though, Aladdin, blue Genie and all, will fly into theaters May 24th.