Exclusive | Did Will Smith delay ‘Bel-Air’ cameo over Chris Rock…
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Peacock’s “Bel-Air” ended with a shock cameo from Will Smith.
The collection, which premiered in 2022 and aired for 4 seasons, starred Jabari Banks and was a “reimagined” version of Smith’s “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” which initially aired on NBC from 1990 to 1996.
Smith’s notorious 2022 Oscars incident – during which he slapped Chris Rock on live TV onstage at the Academy Awards – wasn’t the motive why the present took so lengthy to carry him on.
“No, unrelated,” showrunner Carla Banks-Waddles told The Post.
In fact, manufacturing didn’t know that Smith, 57, would be capable to movie the collection finale until two weeks before. Up to that point, Carla Banks-Waddles had “lost hope.”
Jabari Banks and Will Smith on “Bel-Air.” PEACOCK
Jabari Banks and Will Smith on “Bel-Air.” PEACOCK
Jabari Banks as Will on “Bel-Air.” Anne Marie Fox/PEACOCK
“We knew that it was a possibility. We had been talking about it. The writers have pushed it from the beginning of the season, like a year ago. But you just never know timing wise, if it’s going to work out with his schedule. He’s booked solid, like every day. He’s a busy man!”
Banks-Waddles had no issues that Smith’s battered status would affect the present.
“No, not at all. Because I think even the line when he says, ‘We’re human, you’re going to make mistakes,’ speaks to all of us,” she said.
Smith gave that recommendation to younger Will (Banks) during the episode.
Jabari Banks and Will Smith on “Bel-Air.” PEACOCK
Onscreen, Smith tells younger Will, “Trust me, you’re going to mess some things up and do some dumb sh-t. But you’re human — you’ll learn, you’ll grow. Life goes by fast, man, try to enjoy the ride.”
Smith’s mistake, “was just in a very public spotlight,” Banks-Waddles told The Post. “Our mistakes aren’t. So I think him being able to say that to his younger self just felt very self-reflective and celebratory, because we’re all human. We all make mistakes. We all learn. We evolve.”
Smith is an exec producer, however the finale marked his first time showing on the drama.
“There was talk of him playing Will’s dad, and then Marlon Wayans stepped into the role. I think it was just a scheduling thing. I feel like things happen the way they’re supposed to happen,” she explained.
Jabari Banks and Will Smith on “Bel-Air.” PEACOCK
She needed to search out “the right role” for Smith, because they didn’t need it to really feel “forced” or “gimmicky.”
“It did feel like, ‘Oh, he can’t just come on and play a parent at the school.’”
In the finale, when younger Will was preparing for maturity, “it just felt like having the Santa Clause moment with him talking to his older self like, that’s it. That’s the right role for him.’”
Because Smith’s cameo occurred last minute, they stored it under wraps.
“I was told on set – it was whispered in my ear that it looks like it’s going to happen. It was just like a roller coaster ride, because we would hear, ‘It’s just not going to happen.’”
Will Smith on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
Will Smith on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
“I’m not sure everybody in the cast knew up until the last minute. We were trying to contain it by telling the people who needed to know to make it happen,” she added.
In order to “preserve” the secret, she didn’t write his identify in the script.
“I just called him ‘the man.’ That was a way to not say who he was, because in reading the script, it could be anybody. You don’t know exactly who it is. It could be any man coming in to step in, and just give advice to younger Will.”
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