Disney’s live-action remake of Aladdin is coming out later this month and Will Smith appeared on The Tonight Show to discuss playing the film’s iconic blue genie. During an interview with host Jimmy Fallon, Smith took a moment to perform a quick rap-inspired version of “Friend Like Me,” hinting at what’s to come in the movie itself. “I got presented the idea to play the genie in Aladdin and the first thing is ‘Hell no,'” Smith tells Fallon in the interview. “Robin Williams smashed that role, you know? When you look at things like that you always try to find ‘What would you do differently? What would you add to that?’ So I looked at it and the first thing was I didn’t feel like I wanted to touch it.” He did end up taking it on, mostly because he was able to bring his own twist to the songs. For “Friend Like Me,” Smith asked the music team to bring in the drum sound from “Impeach The President” by the Honey Drippers, which Questlove begins to play in the clip as Smith raps “Friend Like Me.” Fallon also shares a clip from the film, which is in theaters May 24.<doc-sep>Disney's next live-action remake is Aladdin and without a doubt, the hardest job in the new movie is the one done by Will Smith. He has to try to fill the shoes of the great Robin Williams, whose most iconic role ever might just be the animated blue Genie. For many there is simply no way to fill the shoes of Robin Williams, but Smith is going to do his best to make the role his own, and on a recent episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, we got a taste of how.<doc-sep>Aladdin — also starring Mena Massoud as Aladdin and Naomi Scott as Jasmine — hits theaters May 24 WATCH: Will Smith Raps a Hip-Hop Update of 'Friend Like Me' from Aladdin Will Smith is giving fans a taste of what his Genie will bring to Disney’s live-action Aladdin. The actor gave some insight into his take on the iconic character while appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday. After admitting that he was hesitant to take the role because Robin Williams did such a great job on the 1992 animated original, Smith says he found his in by bringing new elements into the blue magical being’s sound. Get push notifications with news, features and more. “Questlove knows this, what did it for me is I was messing with the music and there’s the song ‘Friend Like Me.’ So when we went in, I had him grab the ‘Impeach the President’ by the Honey Dippers, and he used the drums off of it,” Smith, 50, tells Fallon as Questlove immediately starts drumming the part Smith is talking about. This prompts Smith to launch into the fan-favorite song, which now features a heavy hip-hop influence and rap verses from Smith. Smith previously opened up about taking on the iconic role in Entertainment Weekly‘s first look cover story back in December, where he also admitted he felt trepidation. “Whenever you’re doing things that are iconic, it’s always terrifying,” Smith told EW. “The question is always: Where was there meat left on the bone? Robin didn’t leave a lot of meat on the bone with the character.” Instead of trying to recreate the original Genie, Smith drew from his previous roles like Independence Day, Bad Boys and Fresh Prince of Bel-Air to find his version of the blue wish-granter who is trapped in a lamp before Aladdin frees him. RELATED: Aladdin First Look! Will Smith Felt the Pressure of Following Robin Williams as Genie “I started to feel confident that I could deliver something that was an homage to Robin Williams but was musically different,” he said. “Just the flavor of the character would be different enough and unique enough that it would be in a different lane, versus trying to compete.” He continues, “I think it’ll stand out as unique even in the Disney world. There hasn’t been a lot of that hip-hop flavor in Disney history.”<doc-sep>Yeah, Will Smith is really feeling the blues these days. The funnyman is getting ready to uncork his sapphire-tinted take on the iconic Genie in Disney’s live-action remake of Aladdin, which opens later this month. We’ve already seen glimpses of him in blue and in the flesh (the jury’s still out on that), previewed some of the film’s sweeping vistas, and been offered a snazzy taste of its rip-roaring set pieces. Now, we’re getting a sneak peek at Smith’s version on the film’s big musical centerpiece. During an appearance Monday on The Tonight Show, Smith unleashed a few verses from the opening of the showstopping song “Friend Like Me” (which we briefly saw in the trailer), giving fans the first real inkling of how the actor— who takes on a role made famous by the legendary Robin Williams in the animated film — plans to make it his own. Video of Will Smith Sings His Version of Live-Action Aladdin's "Friend Like Me" “I got presented the idea to play the Genie in Aladdin, and the first thing is, hell no!” he cracked to Jimmy Fallon. “You know? It’s like, Robin Williams smashed that role, you know? And when you look at things like that, you try to find, what would you do differently? What would you add to that?” The answer apparently came pretty easily. “So I looked at it and the first thing was, I didn’t feel like I wanted to touch it,” he explained. “What did it for me when I was messing with the music, there’s a song ‘Friend Like Me’... when we went in, I had them grab the ‘Impeach the President’ by The Honey Drippers and [use] the drums...” At that point, Tonight Show mainstay Questlove kicked off a drumbeat and then Smith launched into his rendition of “Friend Like Me,” which started off with some of Smith’s signature Fresh Prince-esque freshness and ended with Fallon springing to his feet to whoop out a standing ovation. That wasn’t all that was in store: The film also dropped a clip in which we see the titular character, played by Mena Massoud, trying to get that whole wishing thing going... but not without a few warnings from Smith’s Genie. Video of Disney's Aladdin - "I Wish to Become a Prince" Film Clip Aladdin is yet the latest in Disney’s bid to breathe new life into its properties by whipping its hit animated movies into live-action films — something that's yielded boffo moolah for the Mouse House: 2017’s Beauty and the Beast eked out a far-from-beastly $1.2 billion worldwide. Try asking your BFF Genie for something like that while you’re at it. The streak isn’t stopping anytime soon: 2019 already saw a live-action Dumbo take flight to $340 million, while a Lion King redux is set to roar in July. Aladdin, meanwhile, is getting ready to roll out the (magic) carpet when it materializes in theaters on May 24.<doc-sep>
Will Smith raps his version of 'Friend Like Me' from Aladdin for Jimmy Fallon Aladdin (2019 movie) Close this dialog window Streaming Options The Aladdin trailers have been dancing around it and only the CinemaCon crowd really got to hear it, but now Will Smith revealed how his take on “Friend Like Me” in the new Aladdin differs from Robin Williams. The actor, who plays the live-action/CG genie in Disney’s latest live-action adaptation of its animated fairy tale library, rapped most of the first verse to his character’s big musical number for Jimmy Fallon and The Tonight Show on Monday. “Robin Williams smashed that role, and when you look at things like that, you try to find what would you do differently? What would you add to that?” Smith prefaced. “So I looked at it and the first thing was I didn’t feel like I wanted to touch it. But then I spent some time with it and I talked to the directors… What did it for me was, when I was messing with the music, there’s a song ‘Friend Like Me.’ So, when I went in, I had them grab the ‘Impeach the President’ by The Honey Drippers and we used the drums off the [track].” Questlove then started in on the drum rhythm from that song and Smith ran with his own hip-hop spin on the classic Disney number. And if you want to know more about how Smith’s Genie differs from Williams’ genie, Disney released a new clip from Aladdin that shows a scene where the titular street rat gets a lesson in wishing. The magic doesn’t stop there. In a spin on Fallon’s go-kart and tricycle racing bits on The Tonight Show, he and Smith competed in a magic carpet race through the NBC studio. The pair zigged through Agrabah merchants, zagged past a belly dancer, and zoomed through the desert, all to capture three of their team’s flags before the other could do so. Smith, an adept magic carpet rider, left Fallon in the dust. Close this dialog window Streaming Options Related content: