Will Smith Has Unexpectedly Profound Reaction to Viral Uncle Phil Photo

Will Smith touches on everything from CDs to the changing nature of celebrity when asked about that viral Uncle Phil photo.

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Damn. I really needed this today. When asked about that viral bungee jumping photo many have claimed shares a strong resemblance with beloved Fresh Prince character Uncle Phil, Will Smith gave what is arguably the best answer imaginable. Seriously. What a fucking answer this is.

Smith got the Uncle Phil inquiry following a presser for his forthcoming Netflix-distributed film Bright during San Diego Comic-Con. First, the Huffington Postasked Smith about that other viral Fresh Prince photo that's been making the rounds recently:

"I hated that mustache," Smith confirmed. "That was so bad."

When asked about the Uncle Phil photo (which is actually a screenshot from the video up top), Smith touched on everything from the changing nature of celebrity to the pre-CD music era. "It is such a new world," Smith told the Post. "I released my first record in '86, so I'm over 30 years in the business. My first album, there were no CDs, so it wasn’t until my second album, and they came like these hot new things called CDs. Seeing that transition, essentially the fans being more and more involved in the creative process. In terms of movie stars, it's a huge difference. It’s like you almost can't make new movie stars anymore."

Smith then got even deeper, all thanks to those Uncle Phil comparisons. "It's like there's a certain amount of privacy and there was a certain amount of distance that you had from the audience, and only on July 4th did you have access," Smith, who stood as the undisputed champion of July 4th blockbusters for multiple summers, said. "So that amount of access created this bigger-than-life kind of thing. But in the shift into this new world, it's almost like a friendship with the fans. The relationship is less like the time of Madonna, Michael Jackson, when you could make the Tom Cruise, these gigantic figures, because you can't create that anymore. The shift is to 'we're best friends,' and that's like with the comments and with those pictures and all that."

Smith added that he loves working to make the transition into a new era, telling the Post that fans simply have "new demands."

Brightlooks interesting, but maybe someone at Netflix should consider giving an immediate series order to a show in which Will Smith just riffs on the changing nature of celebrity for 22 minutes at a time. I'd watch.

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