4 years ago
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"Now, this is a story all about how my life got flipped-turned upside down..."
When I heard Will Smith was coming out with a memoir, it didn't take much convincing for me to buy it. It's extremely honest, entertaining, eye-opening, and downright inspiring.
And while I enjoyed the book in my leisure, I thought it would be fun to talk about all the information he revealed about The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, especially now that its reboot, Bel-Air, is becoming a success!
Here's what I learned:
1. Will Smith had absolutely no acting training or experience before landing The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
NBC / Getty Images
At the time, Will was an award-winning rapper focused on putting out his next album with DJ Jazzy Jeff. DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince had already earned a Grammy, a Soul Train Award, and an American Music Award before The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air aired.
2. Will met the series developer, Benny Medina, while backstage at The Arsenio Hall Show.
Kevin Winter / Getty Images
For those who don't know, Benny is an industry legend. Some of his past roles include head of A&R at Motown Records and VP of Warner Bros. Records' urban music division. He used to manage celebs like Jennifer Lopez, Tyra Banks, Mariah Carey, Usher, Brandy, and Diddy.
3. The concept for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was actually based on Benny's life.
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"Benny was an orphan who grew up with extended family in the projects of East LA," wrote Will. "As a teenager, he was taken in by a friend's wealthy Jewish family who lived in Beverly Hills. Benny was Afro-Latino and found himself at Beverly Hills High School. He was a good kid, yet the chasm between the two worlds created a constant culture clash that was a combustible source of tension...and humor."
4. Hollywood mogul Quincy Jones made Will audition for the lead role of the series during Quincy's birthday party, in front of all the guests (which included Steven Spielberg, Stevie Wonder, and more).
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"Quincy Jones was asking me to do an impromptu audition in front of some of the biggest icons, present and past, in all of entertainment...my knees buckled."
5. Despite almost talking himself out of the audition, Will ended up nailing it on his first try, and Quincy had his legal team write up a contract on the spot.
Nbc / NBCUniversal via Getty Images
Although the show was inspired by Benny Medina's life, they changed a few things in the show to match Will's upbringing. So instead of East LA and Beverly Hills, Will's character would now originate from Philly and move to Bel-Air.
6. Will asked out Karyn Parsons, but she turned him down.
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"[Karyn] was smart enough to tell me 'hell no' when I tried to explain that we were not really cousins so it would be fine if we dated. Telling her, 'I swear it won't mess up our working relationship.' She knew better than that — good call, K.P."
7. Will played a major role in casting John Marcelle as Geoffrey Butler.
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"Producers of Fresh Prince were torn between him and another actor. My first Fresh Prince flex was, 'I want Joseph Marcell.'"
8. Acting opened up a new sense of self for Will — like he truly found his calling.
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"My musical expression always felt narrow and constrained by the limits of my skills and talents. Making music felt like living in a great neighborhood, whereas acting felt like being set free in an infinitive universe."
9. The person spinning Will around in the opening credits is his best friend and bodyguard, Charlie Mack.
NBC, Johnny Nunez / WireImage / Getty Images
"When I get in 'one little fight and my mom got scared,' the person I get into 'one little fight with,' the guy who is spinning me around and precipitating my departure for California, that's Charlie Mack."
10. As for Will's other best friend, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Will literally had to beg and bribe him to be on the show.
Al Pereira / Getty Images
Will was determined to get his crew out to LA after landing the show, so he convinced the producers to let Jeff test for six episodes, for $10K an episode. Jeff wasn't impressed, stating, "Ah man, thanks, but I'm not really feelin' that TV actin' stuff — that's you. I just wanna do music." But somehow, Will managed to change his mind with this speech: "Look, man, just do three episodes. If you hate it, you only got three to go. If you love it, you can get a spot out here, and we'll go back to the producers and get you more. And we can record [music]! The worst-case scenario, you clear sixty grand for being on a network TV show, and at a minimum...more pussy."
11. There's an Easter egg surrounding Jazzy Jeff being thrown out of the Bel-Air mansion.
NBC
"The interior of the Bel-Air mansion and the exterior are two different locations, and we only had a one-day shoot at the exterior location. So, we had to use the same shot of Jeff being thrown out over and over. Therefore, any time you see Jeff enter with the brown-and-white Aztec patterned shirt, you know that he'll be thrown out in that scene."
12. It took five days to produce one episode, known back then as a sitcom workweek.
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"Monday was the table read; Tuesday and Wednesday we would do a run-through for the writers and show them what we came up with. The writers would make adjustments, improving the script; Thursday was a technical run-through: Lights, sound, cameras, etc.; Friday was the live, in-studio audience."
13. Between live takes, the cast would entertain the audience in their own unique way.
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"Alfonso Ribeiro would perform Michael Jackson; John Marcell would sing some obscure, hilarious British show tune; James Avery would demonstrate all the old school dances; Janet Hubbert-Whitten was an Alvin Ailey-trained dancer and a Juilliard-trained actor and singer; even Tatyana Ali, at 11 years old, was jumping in the game. DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince would perform live every Friday night."
14. An "LA gangbanger with a reputation of violent extortions" tried to coerce Will into giving him money and more, but Will's manager, JL, scared him off.
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"There were now five messages for JL: 'I need a cut of that Will Smith business. You should probably respond.' We had heard the stories about this dude — he would just take people's money, force them to sign over their publishing, strong-arming people throughout the industry. We were new to LA and we did not want trouble. But if trouble wanted us, we were right here."
15. Creative differences on set led Will to curse out a TV exec and almost ended in a physical brawl.
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"'Who the fuck is you talkin' to?' I woofed at the executive. In retrospect, I did notice that the man's eyes were completely surrendered and that he had no idea what was happening. He clearly had never been called a bitch in his life and wanted no beef whatsoever."
16. When they weren't filming, Will and DJ Jazzy Jeff were working on their fourth studio album, Homebase. Will wrote the hit single "Summertime" at Chicago O'Hare airport after his flight got delayed.
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SME"I quickly grabbed my rhyme book from my backpack, and the next two hours was nothing short of divine intervention. 'Summertime' is the only song I've ever written from beginning straight to the end and didn't edit or change a single word."
17. To help ease his anxiety of failing on set, Will would obsessively study his lines and the lines of his costars. So much so that he would "unconsciously mouth the other actor's lines on camera as they said them."
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"A perfect example of this phenomenon is in Season 1, Episode 5, 'Homeboy, Sweet Homeboy.' Don Cheadle plays my boy from Philly, Ice Tray. If you look closely, you'll see that I'm mouthing Don's lines."
18. Karyn Parsons was the one who told Will he was mouthing everyone's lines. To this day, he refuses to watch that episode.
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"Karyn was nominated to break the embarrassing news to me. Of course, I denied it, and was horrified (and remain so) when I was shown the excruciating evidence. To this day, I cannot bear to watch that episode. It took me a couple of weeks to break the simian habit, but I got it."
19. The episode Will is most proud of just so happens to be the show's most famous one: "Papa's Got a Brand New Excuse." Since day one, Will was determined to impress James Avery, and he finally felt like he achieved that after this episode.
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NBC"I had studied day and night. I felt ready, but on the first take I froze. My mind went blank and I missed my second line. 'FUUUUUUUCK,' I bellowed at the top of my lungs. 'HEY,' James yelled. 'Settle down,' he whispered. He leaned into my ear, 'Use me. Look into my eyes and talk to me.'"
"I fell into his gaze, somehow plugging into his power, our stare unbroken until he felt I had been sufficiently fueled. James didn't wait for the director; he called action from the floor. The next take is what appeared in the actual episode. Will starts crying and says, 'How come he done want me, man?' Uncle Phil lovingly gathers Will into his arms and whispers in my ear, 'Now, that is fucking acting.'"
20. The first time Will met Jada Pinkett was outside of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air casting office.
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"She walked by and I damn near choked to death on my Roscoe's chicken and waffles. She was pissed. Apparently, the casting agent had just told her she wasn't tall enough to play my girlfriend on the show. She hated that about Hollywood – that somehow her height (or lack thereof) was of more vital importance to the art than her abundant talents."
"'What up shawty,' I said, poorly choosing my descriptive. 'Whatever, nigga, move,' she said gesturing me away with the swat of her hand. And with that, she was gone. It was love at first sight."
21. Will went to a live taping of Jada's show, A Different World, with hopes of properly introducing himself to her, but he ended up meeting his first wife, Sheree Zampino, instead.
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"I didn't meet Jada that night. Sheree and I left together before the show was even over. We laughed all the way through dinner, all the way through that fall, and three months later, we were married."
22. During Season 4, Will felt like he "lost touch with the Fresh Prince." After months of preparation for his role of Paul in Six Degrees of Separation, Will ultimately found it hard to separate himself from that character.
Mgm / ©MGM/courtesy Everett / Everett Collection
"I couldn't remember how he walked or talked or which Jordans he preferred. This went on for 10 full episodes at the beginning of Season 4. I had lost my sense of humor, my timing, my swag, my charisma, and my ability to improvise and ad-lib. Cast and crew alike were terrified. This was the season that Alfonso truly began to shine. For the first few episodes, the writers had to write away from my character and toward Carlton. Alfonso stepped up and took the comedic weight."
23. By midseason, Will was back to his old self, thanks to a few friends and a mole joke.
Nbc / NBCUniversal via Getty Images
"I immediately hired five or six of my friends from Philly to work on the writing staff, on the crew, and to surround me on set while I relearned how to play the character of Will."
"I was in a scene with Karyn, and my character was trying to convince her to go on a date with his teacher, but he had a mole next to his left nostril. My character was begging her to just give him a chance, and in a moment of career-saving inspiration, I ad-libbed, 'Come on, you're making a mountain out of a mole, Hil.' The audience roared; I was back. And method acting was gone forever."
24. Will realized Fresh Prince was on the decline by Season 5.
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"Anyone who has ever been on a sitcom can tell you the episode in which their show 'jumped the shark' (a phrase referring to "the moment after which a television show has passed its prime"). Ours was Season 5, Episode 15, 'Bullets Over Bel-Air.' It's the one in which I got shot and Carlton started carrying a gun."
25. Lastly, because of this unshakable "jumping the shark" feeling, Will decided the sixth season would be the last.
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"The next week, I gathered my cast together. I told everyone that Season 6 would be our final season and that they should take the year to make whatever plans or preparations they felt necessary. I promised them that we would go out with style and grace."
"The final episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air aired on May 20, 1996 — a one-hour finale. The week of shooting had been the most emotional week of my professional life. We laughed, we cried, we reminisced, we loved on each other, and we said goodbye. I sent my television family off with dignity."
Want to know more about Will Smith? Be sure to check out his memoir, Will, which is available in bookstores and libraries now!
And don't forget to watch Bel-Air, streaming on Peacock!
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