Prior to ‘Fresh Prince’ both Will Smith and Jazzy Jeff were set on releasing albums. The first one went extremely well while the second album, not so much. The duo was forced to pivot when ‘Fresh Prince' came along. A big misconception is that the show is about Will Smith, surprisingly enough, that isn’t the case, the show is based around the producer, Benny Medina, “Benny Medina is the real-life Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” Smith admitted. “He actually went from Watts [California] to Beverly Hills. Same basic concept, way shorter distance.”
Will ultimately accepted the role and as they say, the rest is history, both for the show and his career. However, he had a lot of help along the way and a big part of that help was James Avery aka Uncle Phil.
The Scene Was A Big Struggle At First
What made the scene that much more stressful was the fact that all the cast members looked up to James Avery and his incredible resume. Therefore, during the scene, Will wanted to earn Avery’s respect.
Of course, the scene featured Will’s biological father walking out on him, while Uncle Phil was there to console Will as the father figure. Will admitted the scene got off to a bad start when he instantly messed up a line, “I flubbed my line on the take and I messed it up in front of the audience, and my mind snapped and I’m like, ‘Ahhhh! Dammit!’ James says, ‘Hey! Right here!’” Smith said while pointing to his eyes the way Avery did to him. “And I was like (motions paying attention). He was like, ‘Use me!’ And he says, ‘Get yourself together,’ and I get it together and I’m looking and he says, ‘Action.”
The iconic scene took a drastic turn following Avery’s advice. Everything changed for the better on the following take.
The Following Scene Made The Episode
Following Avery’s words, Smith pulled off the most iconic and emotional scene in the show’s history, during the final portion when the two are embracing, Avery let Smith know what a great job he did, “And with the scene that we do, is the scene that ends being in the episode,” Smith said. “And I fall into his arms at the end of scene and he’s holding me and he’s holding me. And the shot pans off. He whispered into my ear and he said, ‘Now that’s acting,'” Smith said.
It took quite the effort but we can all agree, Avery’s tough love worked out for the better. It is a scene that is still referenced to this very day and one the fans of the show won’t forget.
Sources: Today, Twitter & Cheat Sheet