"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," Smith says in a new interview with Empire
Will Smith isn’t hurt by the initial backlash to his blue-skinned Genie in the upcoming Aladdin.
In February, the first teaser trailer for the Disney live-action film dropped sparking memes across the Internet that poked fun at Smith’s character.
The 50-year-old star opened up about the reactions to the Genie in a new interview with Empire in which he revealed he laughed it off.
“It was very funny,” he told the magazine. “There was a Sonic The Hedgehog/Genie frog. Everything is under such critical scrutiny.”
The massive fan response, whether positive or negative, is something the actor is still getting used to.
![[ent-hotlink id= 18542 href= https://people.com/tag/will-smith/ title= Will Smith ] as the Genie in Aladdin](https://peopledotcom.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/aladdin5c60d65d98d1c.jpg "[ent-hotlink id=\"18542\" href=\"https://people.com/tag/will-smith/\" title=\"Will Smith\"] as the Genie in Aladdin")
“I came up in an era where there was no Internet,” he said. “It’s a new thing that I’m trying to get a handle on.”
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In March, the first full-length trailer for the film dropped with fans seeming to change their minds about Smith’s wish-granting character despite their earlier hesitation.
Director Guy Ritchie told Empire he was happy with the reactions following the trailer reveal.
“It even came with apologies from the cynics who were so adamant initially,” Ritchie, 50, told the magazine. “I’ve never seen apologies in that world. I thought, ‘Oh well, great, we’re back to where I’d hoped we’d be.”
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The trailer for Aladdin gave fans a longer look at Smith as the Genie, making it clear that he’s just as funny and mischievous as the original voiced by Robin Williams in the 1992 animated version. Fans even get to hear part of Genie’s signature song “Friend Like Me.”
For the remake, the fictional city of Agrabah will be created from global influences, including the Middle East, India and even China. Not only will the animated movie be a major influence, but the screenplay will go back to the classic Arabic folktales of One Thousand And One Nights.
Disney’s Aladdin flies into theaters on May 24.