Bel-Air is a 2019 short fan film written and directed by Morgan Cooper, based on the 1990s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air . The film serves as a mock trailer for a darker, more dramatic re-imagining of the sitcom. It was uploaded on YouTube on March 10, 2019. [1] [2]
In August 2020, it was announced that it was being developed into a full television show, with Cooper and original series star Will Smith as executive producers. [3] [4] [5] The series had reportedly been in the works for over a year since Cooper posted his Bel-Air trailer on YouTube, with Netflix, NBC's Peacock, and HBO Max all bidding for the series. [6] On September 8, 2020, it was picked up by Peacock, which gave Bel-Air a two-season order. [7]
After being involved in a gang fight during a street basketball game, Will Smith is sent by his mother out of the rough streets of Philadelphia to live with his uncle and aunt in the affluent neighborhood of Bel Air, Los Angeles, in the hopes of straightening out his life.
The film is supposed to take place in 2019. The trailer is heavily influenced by modern-day popular culture, according to Cooper in an interview.[ citation needed ]
NOTE: The characters Geoffrey Butler and Nicky Banks (portrayed by Joseph Marcell and Ross Bagley in the original series) do not appear in the film.
Morgan Cooper shot the Philadelphia sequences of Bel-Air in his hometown of Kansas City, Missouri, in a span of six months. [1]
Will Smith, who played the main character of the original sitcom, heavily praised the fan film, commenting that "Morgan did a ridiculous trailer for Bel-Air. Brilliant idea, the dramatic version of The Fresh Prince for the next generation." He also hinted at options of expanding the idea beyond the short film. [8] [9]
On August 11, 2020, the series Bel-Air was officially announced after being in the works for over a year. At the time, Netflix, HBO Max, and Peacock were bidding for the rights to the show. [10] On September 8, 2020, Peacock gave the series a two-season order under the title Bel-Air, with Westbrook Inc. and Universal Television producing. Smith and Cooper executive-produce, alongside Terence Carter, James Lassiter, Miguel Melendez, Malcolm Spellman, Quincy Jones, Benny Medina, Andy Borowitz, and Susan Borowitz. [11] An online premiere for the series was held on February 9, 2022, by Crown & Conquer. [12] The series premiered on Peacock on February 13, 2022. [13] [14]
Tatyana Marisol Ali is an American actress and singer best known for her role as Ashley Banks on the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from 1990 to 1996. She starred as Tyana Jones on the TV One original series Love That Girl!, and played a recurring role as Roxanne on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless from 2007 to 2013. In 2023, she starred in Giving Hope: The Ni’Cola Mitchell Story on Lifetime.
Willard Carroll Smith II is an American actor, rapper and film producer. He has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, and four Grammy Awards. As of 2024, his films have grossed over $9.3 billion globally, making him one of Hollywood's most bankable stars.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is an American television sitcom created by Andy and Susan Borowitz that aired on NBC from September 10, 1990, to May 20, 1996. The series stars Will Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, a street-smart teenager born and raised in West Philadelphia who is sent to live with his wealthy uncle and aunt in Bel-Air, Los Angeles, where his lifestyle often clashes with that of his upper-class relatives.
Christa Miller is an American actress known for her roles in television comedies. Her foremost roles include Kate O'Brien in the ABC sitcom The Drew Carey Show, Jordan Sullivan in the NBC/ABC comedy series Scrubs, Liz in the Apple TV+ comedy drama Shrinking, and voicing Cleopatra "Cleo" Smith and Candide Sampson in Clone High. She has also appeared in Seinfeld, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and CSI: Miami. From 2009 to 2015, she starred in the ABC/TBS sitcom Cougar Town.
Daphne Etta Reid is an American actress, comedian, designer, and former model. She is best known for her role as the second Vivian Banks on the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from 1993 to 1996.
James La Rue Avery was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Philip Banks in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Judge Michael Conover on L.A. Law, Steve Yeager in The Brady Bunch Movie, and Dr. Crippen on The Closer (2005–2007); and as the voice actor for Shredder in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Haroud Hazi Bin in Aladdin.
Vernee Christell Johnson is an American actress, author, and acting coach. Watson-Johnson is known for her recurring roles as Vernajean Williams on Welcome Back, Kotter (1975–1979), as Viola "Vy" Smith on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990–1996), playing the mother of Will Smith's character and head nurse Gloria Tyler on Bob Hearts Abishola (2019–2024). She is often featured in guest or recurring roles as a nurse. Since 2017 she has played Stella Henry on General Hospital.
Adrian Holmes is a Welsh-born actor based in Canada. He is known for his work on the Bravo television series 19-2, for which he won a Canadian Screen Award in 2017. He is also known for playing the roles of Uncle Phil in the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reboot Bel-Air and Robert April in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
"The Fresh Prince Project" is the pilot episode of the American sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. It aired on NBC in the United States on September 10, 1990, and is written by series co-creators, Andy Borowitz and Susan Borowitz, and directed by Debbie Allen. It guest-stars John Petlock and Helen Page Camp as Henry and Margaret Furth. Tatyana Ali was auditioned in New York City for Quincy Jones to play Ashley when she was 11 years old.
Will Smith is an American actor, rapper and film producer. His breakthrough came when he played a fictionalised version of himself in the 1990s television sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The role brought him international recognition and two Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy. He also served as an executive producer on 24 episodes of the series. Two years later, Smith made his film debut in the drama Where the Day Takes You, where he appeared as a disabled homeless man. In 1995, he starred as a police officer with Martin Lawrence in Michael Bay's Bad Boys. The following year, Smith appeared as a Marine Corps pilot with Jeff Goldblum in Roland Emmerich's science fiction film Independence Day. The film grossed over $817 million at the worldwide box office and was the highest grossing of 1996. In 1997, he starred as Agent J in the science fiction film Men in Black, a role he reprised in its sequels Men in Black II (2002) and Men in Black 3 (2012).
The Crown is a historical drama television series about the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, created and principally written by Peter Morgan and produced by Left Bank Pictures and Sony Pictures Television for Netflix. Morgan developed the series from his film The Queen (2006) and his stage play The Audience (2013), which also focused on Elizabeth.
Susan Stevenson Borowitz is an American writer and producer. She is best known for her work on Family Ties, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Aliens in the Family, and Pleasantville. During their marriage (1982–2005), she and writer and comedian Andy Borowitz co-created The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. This series ran from 1990 to 1996 and led to Will Smith's stardom. It won NAACP's Image Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1993. In addition, Susan and Andy co-created and produced many other television situation comedies. Susan is the author of the comedic novel, When We’re in Public, Pretend You Don’t Know Me: Surviving Your Daughter's Adolescence So You Don't Look Like an Idiot and She Still Talks to You, published in 2003.
Brave New World is an American science fiction drama television series loosely based on the classic novel of the same name by Aldous Huxley. It premiered on the day NBCUniversal streaming service Peacock launched, July 15, 2020. In October 2020, the series was cancelled after one season.
Carlton Banks is a fictional character portrayed by Alfonso Ribeiro on the NBC television sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from September 1990 to May 1996, the preppy and politically conservative cousin, main foil, and eventual close friend to Will Smith's cool and street-smart lead character. The character has been praised for portraying a complex and sympathetic foil with an arc of personal growth over the course of the show. The character is also known for a dance with humorously exaggerated movements developed for the character by Ribeiro, which came to be known as "The Carlton". Ribeiro also crossed over his role as Carlton into the In the House episode "Dog Catchers" before returning the following season as series regular Dr. Maxwell Stanton for the remainder of that series' run.
Bel-Air is an American drama television series developed by Morgan Cooper, Malcolm Spellman, TJ Brady, and Rasheed Newson. It is a reimagined version of the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and is based on Cooper's short fan film of the same name. It stars Jabari Banks, Adrian Holmes, Cassandra Freeman, Olly Sholotan, Coco Jones, Akira Akbar, Jimmy Akingbola, Jordan L. Jones, and Simone Joy Jones. The series premiered on Peacock on February 13, 2022. The second season was released on February 23, 2023. In March 2023, the series was renewed for a third season which premiered on August 15, 2024.
Westbrook Inc. is an American multimedia and entertainment venture company founded by actor Will Smith and his wife, actress Jada Pinkett Smith. The company was founded in 2019, in order to execute the Smith Family's global content with Will Smith's production company Overbrook Entertainment becoming one of its subsidiaries. It is headquartered in Calabasas, California, with 80 employees as of March 2021.
Olly Sholotan is a Nigerian-American actor, musical artist, and music producer. He is known for playing the role of Carlton Banks in Peacock's Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reimagining Bel-Air, as well as releasing music through his independent record label Lamintin Records.
Jabari Banks is an American actor. His notable lead roles in television series include Bel-Air (2022), 97th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (2023), Bad Genius (2024), and American Dream: The 21 Savage Story (2024). Banks was nominated for the 2024 NAACP Image Awards for his role as Will Smith in Bel-Air.
Rasheed Newson is an American television drama writer, producer, and novelist. He co-developed and is an executive producer of the drama series Bel-Air. His debut novel, “My Government Means to Kill Me,” was a 2023 Lambda Literary finalist for Gay Fiction and was named one of “The 100 Notable Books of 2022” by The New York Times. The book was rated as one of the three 'Best Book of the Year' in 2022 by The Philadelphia Inquirer.