Viral moments are common and fleeting these days and the latest young mind to capitalize on the wave was filmmaker Morgan Cooper whose recent Bel-Air trailer has been catching serious steam.
The clip was a modern-day and more dramatic remake of Will Smith's Fresh Prince of Bel-Air sitcom. Cooper cleverly took the premise of Fresh Prince, a troubled teen who moves away from Philadelphia with his well-to-do family in an affluent Los Angeles suburb, and removed the layer of comedy that cloaked the original show. The result was a darkened and frankly, more relatable creation and fans weren't the only who appreciated the perspective.
In his latest vlog, Will Smith invited Copper to discuss the trailer as he praised his video, which has since amassed 3.5 million views and counting since its arrival.
"That's an idea that is brilliant," Smith told Cooper.
He went on to sit down and describe the difficulty of tackling darker issues on a sitcom, something that Cooper successfully unearthed.
"As funny as the episodes are, there was a whole other layer that you couldn't do," adds Smith, lending a de facto co-sign for the idea. "The dramatic version of these ideas means that you can use existing storylines. But, it's not going to seem like you're redoing an episode because the storyline is going to be brand new from the dramatic perspective."