Will Smith’s portrayal as Genie in the upcoming live-action remake of Aladdin was met with immense criticism from the start since Genie’s first look was revealed in human disguise form rather than in his iconic blue skin. Fortunately, it was later confirmed that Genie will be blue similar to the animated classic but the recent new trailer says otherwise.
A new teaser trailer for Aladdin just offered the first look at Will Smith floating as Genie and in his true blue form. But the first look reveal seems to have backfired as fans have been enraged that the character’s visual appearance doesn’t live up to the expectation, Especially since the entire fandom would hope for the new Genie to be as good as Robin Williams’ portrayal.
Now Disney has released a new image of Smith’s Genie offering a slightly different look at the character than what was shown in the teaser. The new still does reveal that the new Genie has some similar aesthetics to the character from the animated version. Unfortunately, it hasn’t helped in putting out the fire as many fans seem to have lost hope in the project already.
While the look may come as a surprise to some, director Guy Ritchie earlier said in an interview with EW that he wanted Genie to look like a body-building dad from the 1970s.
“There’s a particular type of physicality that I grew up with that I was keen on, that 1970s body builder look — not inflicted by steroids but by lifting vast amounts of weight and eating vast amounts of food — so I just want a genie with abs, a genie that looks like he can move stuff,” Ritchie explained. “I did want a traditional demi-God, someone who looked like a big, strong dad. I didn’t want a genie that looks like all he can do is eat either, that is the way you end up going.
“I wanted a muscular 1970s dad — 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.”
Smith also shared the new teaser along with the still on Instagram.
“I told y’all I was gon’ be Blue!! Y’all need to trust me more often!,” wrote Smith in the photo’s description. You can check out the photo below.
Directed by Guy Ritchie, Aladdin releases this Summer on May 24th.
Still of Genie from Aladdin/ Disney
