Will Smith Says The Genie Will Be Blue In Aladdin

As we reported yesterday, the first photos from Disney’s live-action remake of Aladdin made their way online, and immediately received backlash for how Will Smith looks as the Genie. While there were a variety of reasons for the complaints, a lot of them focused on the fact that he will not be blue as he was in the 1992 animated film. Smith took to Instagram to clear this up, saying that he is mostly CGI in the film and that the photos are of the Genie’s human disguise. He wrote:

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BAM!! First look at the Genie 🧞‍♂️, Princess Jasmine, and #Aladdin! Check Me Rockin’ the Top Knot Ponytail Vibes in @entertainmentweekly 😆 (and yes, I’m gonna be BLUE! 🙂 This is how the Genie is in Human / Disguise Form. My character will be CGI most of the movie.)

A post shared by Will Smith (@willsmith) on Dec 19, 2018 at 5:28am PST

The film was directed by Guy Ritchie from a script he wrote with John August and Vanessa Taylor. It also stars Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott, Marwan Kenzari, Navid Negahban, Nasim Pedrad, Billy Magnussen and Numan Acar. It will be released on May 24, 2019.