Movies Will Smith circling Genie role in Disney's live-action Aladdin By Oliver Gettell Oliver Gettell Senior news editor, EW.com EW's editorial guidelines Published on April 19, 2017 06:33PM EDT Photo: Disney; Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP Will Smith might end up working his magic for Disney after all. Having recently flirted with but never committed to starring in the studio’s live-action Dumbo movie, Smith is now in early talks to play the Genie in Disney’s live-action Aladdin re-imagining, EW has confirmed. As Genie, Smith would follow in the footsteps of the late Robin Williams, whose freewheeling, side-splitting performance in the original 1992 animated film helped propel it to box office success and critical acclaim. Guy Ritchie (Snatch, Sherlock Holmes) is directing the new Aladdin movie, working from a script by John August (Big Fish). The project comes amid a wave of beloved Disney toons being remade as live-action movies. Smith most recently starred in Collateral Beauty and Suicide Squad, and he’ll next be seen in the Netflix fantasy thriller Bright. Deadline Hollywood first reported the news.