The cast of Aladdin reunited on Good Morning America on Friday to celebrate the digital re-release of the 1992 Disney classic. And of course, they paid tribute to one of the things that made the movie so eternally awesome—the comedic skills of the late great Robin Williams as Genie. During the broadcast, they revealed some never-before-seen clips that reminded us just how much magic he brought to the cartoon.
It's no wonder that screenwriters Ron Clements and John Musker wrote the part specifically for him.
"There was no one else that could be the Genie and fortunately he agreed to do it," Clements said on the show. "And he worked so hard. We recorded him in four hour sessions, and he would be going four hours straight…by the end he was just drenched. He had so much energy and so much passion."
Perhaps one of the reasons the Genie is still one of the most enduring roles in a long legacy of incredible parts is because Williams really was like the Genie: a little sad underneath a comedic facade, trying to break free, and giving all he had to the people around him as he did it.
"Aside from being funny as anything, he was such a warm person," animator Eric Goldberg said. "He was the Genie—it was bigger than life."
Genie, you're free. pic.twitter.com/WjA9QuuldDAugust 12, 2014
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My writing has regularly appeared in The New York Times, The Paris Review, Salon, VICE, Guernica, The New York Observer, BuzzFeed, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen, Esquire, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, and many more publications.
I was previously the Senior News Editor at Best Life Online and the Viral Content Editor in the Newsroom of Hearst Digital Media. My portfolio consists of a vast and diverse body of work that includes personal essays, lifestyle articles, breaking news posts, and viral content. My areas of expertise, however, are Russia, sex and relationships, and mental wellness.
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