"I was wearing dress shoes for that scene, I didn't put in any insoles, I wasn't gellin' at the time! But it was worth every bit of pain.") (The scene in which Phil is stepping with his fraternity brothers - a moment that drew a reaction when the trailer first dropped - was "a lot of fun, but my knees were sore for about a week and a half after that," says Holmes. Attempts to reestablish that connection have him looking back at who he was before he became rich. Though he's well in his comfort zone when schmoozing donors at opulent parties, he can't guarantee local Black voters will turn out at the polls for him. In "Bel-Air," Adrian Holmes plays Philip, who is campaigning to be the next district attorney. (Uncle Phil was also subject to his nephew's countless jokes about his size.) He remains iconic for anchoring some of the series' most honest moments, whether reminding Will of his activist heritage or comforting him amid his father's continued absence. The late James Avery played the Banks family's strict, self-made patriarch, a high-powered lawyer vying for a judicial seat.
LIBJANSSON BEL CHARACTER HOW TO
But I’m excited for people to see what’s been bubbling up inside him as that’s all going down."Īnd as in the original, Will and his cousin Carlton do not initially get along - not only because Will wears his school blazer inside-out, but also because "they have two different ideas about how the world works, but they have to figure out how to coexist in the same house and the same school, which is Carlton’s world," says Banks. He don’t take no s-, and sometimes that gets him into trouble. He’s very prideful, he doesn’t like getting his toes stepped on and, any chance he gets to prove someone wrong, he will do that.
Making his onscreen debut, Jabari Banks - who had the "Fresh Prince" boxed set as a child and is actually from West Philadelphia! - says his version of Will is "a little grittier. While Will spends the night in jail, his mother gets help from Will's Uncle Phil, a high-powered lawyer who pulls strings to ensure his release and offers to keep him safe in Los Angeles, far from the gang leader's revenge. To interrupt the resulting beatdown, Will pulls a gun from Tray's backpack and shoots it in the air, then aims it at the gang leader until the cops pull up and arrest him. "Bel-Air" ups the stakes to justify the drastic relocation: One night, after finishing a game, Will's best friend Tray is wrongfully accused of hitting a gang leader in the face with a basketball. Its theme song explained why Will moved across the country, while showing him being spun around in the air by a local bully. The sitcom's titular character, though loosely based on the experiences of music executive Benny Medina, leaned heavily on the real-life personality of Will Smith: a charismatic, streetwise teen with an aptitude for music, talent on the basketball court and skills with the ladies.