Aladdin: Dare to Gaze Upon Will Smiths Version of the Genie

When Will Smith was announced as the Genie in Disneys upcoming live-action remake of Aladdin, a few questions began percolating. Would he be C.G.I. so he could play the character with as much animated charm as Robin Williams? Would he be . . . blue? Or would he just be a normal, live-action, Will Smith-looking man dressed up in Agrabahn gear? Well, Entertainment Weekly has a first look at the Aladdin cast fully in character, Smith included, and it turns out the answer is the latter. Feast your eyes upon this:

Yes, thats Smith as the Genie, going with the bold choice of a thick goatee with a little hair clip and a big bald head, save for a topknot festooned with another golden clip. Well, it appears to be a topknot until you see the shot of Smiths profile, which reveals the topknot to be a surprisingly long ponytail. Whats impressive is he manages to have no hair and entirely too much hair all at once!

According to Smith, the image in the E.W. spread isnt the final version of the character. “Im gonna be BLUE,” he wrote in an Instagram caption. Per E.W., the film isnt finished, so the final rendering of the Genie is not yet available, but director Guy Ritchie teased that the new version of the Genie will look like “a muscular 1970s dad” (and not, say, a modern version of Sinbad in Shazam, if Shazam were real).

“He was big enough to feel like a force—not so muscular that he looked like he was counting his calories, but formidable enough to look like you knew when he was in the room,” Ritchie said of his inspiration. Which, again, was 1970s dads. Dads from all other eras, back off, this isnt about you.

Smith also spoke about the role, saying it was “terrifying” to take on the character after Williamss iconic performance in the original Aladdin.

“The question is always: where was there meat left on the bone? Robin didnt leave a lot of meat on the bone with the character,” he added. However, the actor decided to give a performance that was an homage to Williams but musically divergent.

“I think itll stand out as unique even in the Disney world,” Smith said. “There hasnt been a lot of that hip-hop flavor in Disney history.”

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Get Vanity Fairs HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Full ScreenPhotos:Youve Got Mails Stealthy Star Power: 8 Featured Actors You May Have Forgotten

Dave Chappelle

You may remember Chappelle better than most of the other actors on this list; he played Joe Foxs best friend, Kevin, and therefore logged a little more screen time than, say, Chris Messina (whom well get to in a few). Chappelles shining moment? Being the first to find out that Joes online crush, “Shopgirl,” is, in fact, his competitor, Kathleen Kelly. As he tells Joe seconds later, “If you dont like Kathleen Kelly, I can tell you right now: you aint gonna like this girl.”Photo: From Warner Bros/Everett Collection.

Sara Ramirez

Before she became one of Seattles premier orthopedic surgeons on Greys Anatomy, Sara Ramirez played a woman who worked at Zabars, facing a cashiers worst nightmare: a customer (Ryans Kathleen) who wants to pay with a credit card, despite being in a cash-only line.

Steve Zahn

As you may remember, Kathleen had a couple co-workers at The Shop Around the Corner—both of whom try to help her figure out who her Godfather-obsessed chat-room beau might be. One of them? A shaggy-maned Steve Zahn.Photo: From Warner Bros/Everett Collection.

Jane Adams

Who better to lure Greg Kinnear away from Ryan than another brainy, neurotic woman who looks great in tights and turtlenecks? Just a year before her high-strung turn on Frasier, Adams appears ever so briefly, and uncredited, as TV host Sydney Anne, who has a not-very-professional crush on Kinnears Frank Navasky.

Jeffrey Scaperrotta

As the young Matt Fox, Scaperrotta gets to deliver one of the most enjoyable and quotable lines of the movie: F-O-X. He would go on to play Elliot Stablers son Dickie in the much less family-friendly Law & Order: S.V.U.Photo: From Warner Bros/Everett Collection.

Jean Stapleton

All in the Family star Stapleton, who started out in musical theater, played Birdie Conrad—whose name is the mirror image of the Elvis-esque heartthrob in Bye Bye Birdie. Only Nora and Delia Ephron know if this is some obscure reference to the fact that actress Maureen Stapleton, commonly thought to be Jeans sister but actually no relation to her, appeared in the 1963 Birdie film.Photo: From Warner Bros/Everett Collection.

Chris Messina

Both this gallery and the movie saved the best for last. A fresh-faced Chris Messina pops up toward the end as a clueless Fox books employee who doesnt know Ballet Shoes from Skating Shoes. Many years later, in the Season 2 finale of Messinas sitcom The Mindy Project, show-runner and die-hard Youve Got Mail fan Mindy Kaling cast Messina as the NY152 to her Shopgirl in a half-hour homage to all things Ephron.PreviousNext

Yohana DestaYohana Desta is a Hollywood writer for VanityFair.com.