“It’s Terrible.” Will Smith Revealed That He Hates Watching the First Episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Will Smith can't stand his own performance from the first season of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He described it as “terrible.”.
Will Smith scored his acting debut by playing a fictional version of himself in the TV series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. This is also one of his most memorable roles, just as the TV series itself is still remembered by fans today. And while viewers loved the sitcom about a Philadelphia teenager who moved in with rich relatives in California, Smith says he can't watch the first episodes of the hit TV show in which he is starring.
And it's not that the Men in Black star doesn't like to see himself on screen, but rather that he can't stand his acting in these particular episodes. As he confessed during The Graham Norton Show, as this was his debut, he wanted to perform at his best, however, this backfired on him (via ET).
It was my very first role, and I was very, very focused on being successful, so I learned the whole script and everyone else’s lines. If you watch the first four or five episodes, you can see I’m mouthing other people’s lines. It’s terrible and I can’t bear to watch it.
As you can see, even too thorough preparation can hurt a performance. Stress certainly played its role, too, stemming from the kind of pressure placed on Will Smith, who was anxious for his own success and that of the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
But despite the fact that in the first episodes the actor moved his lips, repeating the lines of other actors, the TV series was a success and as many as 148 episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air were made. Smith certainly learned a lot on the set of this production, including to let other actors speak their own lines, and besides, it was his ladder to an acting career.
