- Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, but the dark version.
- I kind of miss the happy Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
- It's like Will Smith is learning what a YouTuber is
by becoming a YouTuber.
♪ (dramatic chord) ♪
- (voice-over) ...Bel-Air. - West Philadelphia born and raised!
- Mmm. This a good one, doe.
- (Viola) This is not a game, Will. Look at you.
- I don't know what this is at all. Is that embarrassing that I don't?
- (Viola) Look at you! - I need to turn this up.
Hold on. It's getting good.
- (Viola) The only reason why you're not in jail
is because Uncle Phil called in a favor.
- First thing's first: Rest in peace, Uncle Phil.
- This is a real live-action, serious version of The Fresh Prince
of Bel-Air. - Is this the intense
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, but the dark version?
I haven't seen this yet.
- I've never seen this. - Ooh! LeBron!
- (Will) Too easy.
Okay. (sucks in breath)
Ooh, you done messed up. - (man) You throw this?
- Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh. - (man) You stupid?
- Ohh, no! - Is it fan-made?
It's pretty good. It's good quality.
- Oh, no! - (Viola) You are carrying a gun
on the streets to protect yourself? - This is very real.
- (Viola) ...to protect yourself?
- It's West Philadelphia, Mom. - (Viola) I've done my best, Will.
- This looks like a good movie. I've never heard of it.
- (Viola) You're going to Bel-Air. - Going to Hollywood.
- (Viola) ...uncle and your aunty.
- (Will) Bel-Air out of all places? - Oh, is this a modern version
with iPhones and [bleep]?
- (Uncle Phil) Will, I will not bail you out again.
- I love this. This is, to me, how you reboot something.
- (Uncle Phil) I'm not Uncle Phil. (music quickly fades out)
I'm the law. - Oh, it's getting serious.
- We all forget how dramatic the plot of Fresh Prince actually is.
- (Uncle Phil) You've got to be responsible for yourself.
- (woman) So, Will, what brings you to Bel-Air?
- I got caught with a gun. - Okay. We cut straight to the point.
- (Carlton) How are we related again? - Carlton.
- I don't know. I don't like it.
I hate when people try and redo something.
- (Aunt Viv) Just a little time and a little love.
We are what he needs. - (Carlton) Why don't you go back
to Philly? Born and raised, right?
- (Will) You think I would ever wanna be in this life?
- It's so crazy, 'cause I feel like this is
so relative to nowadays. - (man) Yo, you must be from Philly.
- (Will) Yeah. What's up, man? I'm Will.
- Jazz. - Good ol', Jazz.
- Yeah. (laughs) DJ Jazzy Jeff, let's go!
- Wait, is Will Smith gonna be-- is he gonna show up at all?
- (Jazz) They got you out there? - (coach) All right, Philly.
- It's very dramatic. I don't know.
It's, like, you know, I kind of miss the happy Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
- Mm-hmm. Evolved handshake
- I'm confused if it's supposed to be funny or serious.
- (chuckles) Carlton. - Yeah, Carlton! Dance!
- Ahhh.
- ♪ Daddy never came home ♪ - Oh, I love this.
- Wait, this looks good. Not even having watched the show,
this looks good. - You can tell whoever
put this together, they were definitely super fans of the show.
- This is how you do the reboot of a lifetime.
- That crown looks dope, too. - At first, I actually thought
that was Will Smith in the chair. - Oh, wow.
I really like it. It took me a minute
to realize what it was, and then I was like, "Oh my god!
This is based off of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, duh."
- The story of the show, I never thought it would be
turned into something so serious and so real, and I'm living for it.
- They walked the perfect line between nostalgia, defining themselves,
and putting Easter eggs between the two.
I think it's brilliant. - I was very, very young
when Fresh Prince was on, so I feel like I didn't really
get to enjoy it. I mean, I know the basis of it,
but just to see this now in modern times,
it's already just so relevant to what's going on in the world.
- (FBE) So, this was a fan-made trailer...
- Oh, that was a fan-made trailer?! WHAT?!
- (FBE) ...called Bel-Air, which reimagines the '90s sitcom,
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, as if it were happening today.
- Oh, I thought was great. So cool.
- I love Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Yeah, I loved that show growing up.
I think you have to wait a little longer than, what?
Like 30 years to recreate something.
- (FBE) So, we'll talk more about the trailer in a minute,
but first the trailer actually caught the attention of Will Smith,
who, as you probably know, starred in the original sitcom.
- Of course. - (FBE) And he recently posted
a video titled, "How I Really Feel About the Bel-Air Trailer"
on his own YouTube channel. - (laughs)
- Oh, boy. Of course. - Of course he did.
That YouTube star. - Yeah.
- (FBE) So, that also went viral, and we have that to show you now.
- Oh my god. Cool. - Ooh, okay.
- Monetize that, Will!
- (Will) I saw this trailer that... - That's the guy!
He brought him on. - (Will) ...Morgan Cooper hooked up.
- That's sick. - (Will) This is the first time
that I heard something, I was like, "Yo, that's an idea
that is brilliant." - Damn, that's so cool.
- (Will) So, how did that idea come to you to do that?
- (Morgan) Well, you know, I grew up watching the show.
I mean, it's something that since I was five...
- Same here. - He is crapping his pants right now,
talking to Will Smith right now. - (Morgan) I remember driving down 71
in Kansas City, and I was just thinking about the show.
And I remember driving under this overpass,
and I would say I drove under it, and when I came out, I had the idea.
- That's cool. That's very legendary.
- (Will) Mike wrote from the first season of Fresh Prince.
As funny as the episodes are, there was a whole other layer
that you couldn't do. Like, in a one-hour drama,
you can do eight-episode arcs. - One hour-- yeah, you can get
a whole lot going on in an hour drama for sure.
- (Will) We get to go back to the beginning and start talking
about my real experiences. For example, for me,
I moved to LA and started the Fresh Prince,
and all of my friends started getting killed and going to jail.
- Wow. - (Will) The escape that I made
from it in real life was the escape that Will made in the show.
- Those are good points. Good points. - It's really cool to see
a whole different twist to the same story.
- (Will) What's exciting to me is the new media of it all
that you put something... - Mm-hmm.
- (Will) ...on YouTube. - YouTube!
- (Will) You just made a trailer, created something.
I'm excited and inspired about that new way that human beings
are interacting and ideas are getting created.
- It's like Will Smith is learning what a YouTuber is
by becoming a YouTuber. - Will Smith is so down with creators
and YouTube and stuff like that that if anyone were to get behind it,
it'd be him. - (Will) Morgan did a ridiculous
trailer... - Oh, he can vlog.
- Did the cameraman have somewhere to be?
Why is this on his phone all of a sudden? (chuckles)
- (Will) ...brilliant idea, the dramatic version
of The Fresh Prince for the next generation.
- Are you gonna fund it or what? Will, we all know you can afford it.
Please fund this. - I hope they do something with this.
I think it'd be great if they put the hour of whatever
that was, Bel-Air on YouTube. I'd watch it.
- As a youngin', I just-- I kind of felt like
The Fresh Prince raised me, you know? I was an only child.
I learned a lot from The Fresh Prince, and that's why it was such
a big influence on me growing up. And you know, as a result,
Will Smith was such a big influence on me.
That's why I named my stage name after the Fresh Prince.
- (Will) My poem is called, uh...
"Tick Tock Clock" by Raphael de la Ghetto.
- I was always just tryna be like Will Smith.
- (FBE) So, first of all, let's talk a little bit
about the Bel-Air trailer that you watched first.
What did you think about that? - I thought it was great.
I thought it was really cool. I think it brought in a lot
of current topics, too. - I loved it.
I'm shook that it was a fan-made trailer.
I literally thought that this would be a real movie.
- Smart idea. I mean, you know, you could take something original
and then just flip it upside down. So, that's a good idea,
and that's why it got the attention of Will Smith.
- I like that they kept the vibe of the show
and just kind of the heart of the show,
but at the same time, you know, made it more realistic
and took it to another level, where maybe you can't necessarily go
with a comedy. - That's the kind of love
that you wanna see in projects that Hollywood is not really investing in.
That, to me, is the right way to reboot something.
- Having that dramatic side to such a classic story
and also having it be so relevant,
it's just crazy to see that, you know, struggles that we were
kind of facing a couple years ago are still so true to this day,
and it's kind of sickening and not great.
We need to continue to show the messaging and the importance
of just stories like those.
- (FBE) The trailer has millions of views and stirred up a lot
of conversation among fans of the original show,
since it reimagines the classic comedic sitcom
in a very different way. So, what does the fact that Will Smith
saw this and took the time to dive into this idea
with its creator kind of say about the power of YouTube?
- Huge. - Oh my god, yeah.
It's also so crazy thinking that Will Smith probably saw it,
because he's now part of the platform.
- Yeah. What? - (laughs)
- Now Will Smith's on YouTube? What do you mean?
- Fresh Prince to YouTube star. - I think it's cool.
I think it's why I have a job. I shouldn't, but, you know,
power of YouTube. - YouTube is like the biggest platform
at the time right now, and I think you could reach
many audiences with that. It just goes to show
how powerful one idea and posting it online can be.
The fact that Will Smith, who was in the show
and is an icon saw this trailer, then met with the people
that made the trailer, that just goes to show
how powerful the internet is. - And it gives me a lot of hope,
you know, 'cause I wanna be a filmmaker eventually
and work with films. I'm so into new filmmakers
and new actors and actresses to breakthrough and create
a new era of Hollywood. - Social media and YouTube,
you know, it's all full circle. And I think Will has always been
so cool about connecting with creators.
He's all for the YouTube community, which is so cool.
- Celebrities and traditional Hollywood, they're starting
to respect YouTube a lot more. They're starting to realize that,
hey, these kids, these young adults, they have power,
they have an audience, they have a following.
- I love in classic Will Smith style, he's like, "No, no, no.
I'm not gonna react to the video. I'm gonna fly homeboy out to Miami,
the penthouse, and we're gonna look over this beautiful scenic view
and talk. That's so iconic.
- People, for the longest time, have been downplaying YouTubers
or content creators who create these big projects, right?
Adi Shankar made those-- I think he made those Power Ranger projects,
and now he's making Castlevania on Netflix.
He's working on the Devil May Cry series on Netflix.
- Back in the day, if someone made a fan VHS
and sent to him, he would like not look twice.
But because there's already fans of that
they're like, "Ooh, I gotta get on this."
I don't know why more people aren't. It's 2019.
Why aren't they all doing this? I've made so many videos about people.
I'm like, "Ugh, why aren't you coming to me, you know?
Let's do something together." I've been waiting for a long time
for traditional media to finally start really recognizing
YouTube as a nice talent pool of people.
I put in over 10 years of YouTube content for people
to just finally start to be like, "Oh, you know what?
Maybe you guys do got something going on over here
that's legitimate." And now to see someone
like Will and other big companies really kind of take notice
and pay attention to things that are popping online
and giving them shine and opportunities is dope.
- (FBE) Will Smith first started his YouTube channel back in 2017
and now has over five million subscribers.
- Oh, man. If I got 5 million that quick, ooh. Jeez.
But then again, if I was Will Smith, I'm just gonna tell people
I'm Will Smith's cousin, then I'll be fine.
- Will Smith understands his power, and he understands and respects
the platform itself. And in essence,
he has been very involved and is consistent
and actually just cares about the platform.
- There's so many people who came over to YouTube
and tried to make a produced show out of it
and something that they would put on TV,
and it flopped. And they were like, "Oh,
I don't understand. YouTube is where all of the young fans are.
Why isn't this working?" But I think he really embraced
the essence of what YouTube is and the creative control you have
over it, and that's why it's so successful.
- (FBE) Many more traditional celebrities
have YouTube channels now, like Jack Black, Zac Efron,
and obviously Will Smith just to name a few.
Jablinski Games is great, by the way. Jack Black, you're crushing it.
- (FBE) So, what do you think about traditional celebrities
and how they're starting to focus more on their YouTube presence?
- Well...
Hello? Money.
Everybody, is this a question? They're not on Instagram,
'cause they love it, guys. - That's so cool that we're kind of
mixing the two media and traditional together
and kind of being together with it instead of being against each other
or make a mock of the other. - It's a different avenue
to interact with fans. Maybe that's something
that some celebrities felt like they had lacking.
- A lot of times, they play these amazing characters
that so many of the fans get attached to.
But they don't really know the true them.
And I think Will Smith is so incredible and so smart.
It's really cool to see this other side to him
and his family on his YouTube. - It's probably such a change
for them to have full control of their content,
'cause I'm sure if you grew up being an actor or actress,
whatever, doing shows and movies, you're not used to being in the--
you know, in front of the camera and behind the camera, being like,
"Oh my god. I can make whatever I want."
- We are kind of the weird kids here on YouTube,
being YouTube creators, and we're really not taken that seriously
a lot of times in terms of traditional,
where we're trying to cross over into the traditional media or whatever.
So, I feel like it's so funny how now traditional media people
are coming over to the digital space. - I think that it's brilliant
that YouTubers or that celebrities are breaking into YouTube.
I think that YouTube in general should try and be more hands-on, though,
with making sure that-- it's great to have celebrities
on the platform, but do not forget about us guys
who helped build the platform.
(clang!) - (voice-over) Truth!
- (FBE) So finally, like we said, different celebrities are using
the platform now in different ways. - Yes.
- (FBE) However, in your opinion, would you consider these celebrities
to be part of the YouTube community? Or do you think
they're a different category? - You know what?
I'm gonna tell them the same answer that they tried to tell us
when we try to go on the red carpet or whatever, they're just kind of like,
"Oh, well, they're a YouTuber." So, I'm gonna give them
a little shade, a tiny bit, and be like, "Oh, well,
it's just another celebrity trying to hop on the YouTube bandwagon."
- In my head, they're a different category...
- Yeah. - ...'cause I'm like, oh,
they're famous people doing YouTube. - Just like we're not--
We're YouTubers. We're not celebrities. You know?
- I think if they're taking it seriously,
and they're putting out videos, and they're talking
like regular people, I'd consider them part
of the YouTube community. And I think it's great.
- That would be me starting a VEVO and then calling myself Rihanna.
No. Anyone can sign up for YouTube.
- They would kind of live more in the category that, you know,
the late night shows kind of live in,
where they have YouTube channels that have videos that are kind of
interactive, but it's more-- it's clearly more "done"
than a lot of homespun YouTubers.
- They can be part of the YouTube community
if they actually embrace all of its creators.
You gotta be open to working with YouTubers
and not just their actor friends who happen to be doing YouTube as well.
- To us, they're outsiders. And they can still exist on YouTube.
They can still do their thing on YouTube.
They can still cultivate their audience.
But if they care about YouTube, they care about the community,
and they don't wanna be laughed at every step of the way
during YouTube Rewind, they would do a lot more
to wanna work with guys like us who are putting in that work.
- They're kind of in a different category,
because they're kind of beyond well-established
before YouTube. Everybody knows who Will Smith is
before YouTube. But he is a content creator,
and he is technically a YouTuber as well.
But in the sense that he's already established,
I feel like he kind of is in a different YouTube category
than traditional YouTubers. - If you become a YouTuber,
I feel like you're just signing up for being in the community.
So, I think we all categorize in the same thing.
I think that's cool if we are categorized
in the same thing as the celebrities. - Will Smith having
a successful YouTube channel doesn't affect my YouTube channel.
If anything, the more people that are on YouTube,
the more people are likely to see my content as well.
I'm not gonna be mad at that. You know, there's money out there
for everybody. There's views out there for everybody.
So, I'm not hating on on the celebs.
- Thanks so much for watching this fresh episode of YouTubers React.
- Subscribe to all the YouTubers featured in this episode.
Links are in the description. - What do you think
of the Bel-Air trailer? Let us know in the comments below.
- (both) Bye! - Hey, everyone.
Lauren, producer here at FBE. Thank you so much for watching
this episode of YouTubers React. Make sure you check out
all the creators who came and shot with us today.
Their links are gonna be down there. Bye, guys.