From executive producer Will Smith, co-showrunners T.J. Brady and Rasheed Newson, and Morgan Cooper, whose viral trailer that reimagined the ‘90s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air inspired the Peacock original series Bel-Air, the new dramatic take follows Will (Jabari Banks) on a journey that quickly spirals out of control. Putting the streets of West Philadelphia behind him, as he moves into a gated mansion in Bel-Air with his Uncle Phillip (Adrian Holmes) and Aunt Viv (Cassandra Freeman), Will has to navigate where and how he fits in and what he wants from his second chance and this new opportunity.

During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, director/co-writer/EP Cooper talked about the pure inspiration that led to creating the Bel-Air trailer that quickly got the attention of Smith, how ready he felt for this experience, what led him to this moment, the incredible feeling of directing the pilot, finding organic ways to include Easter eggs, the challenge of casting the lead role, finding this new version of Carlton (Olly Sholotan), how the two-season pickup affected the storytelling, learning something new every day, and his desire to keep telling different stories in TV and film.

Collider: I was one of those very skeptical people that watched the original series, and you have completely won me over with this show.

MORGAN COOPER: Wow. That’s so beautiful to hear. Thank you for taking the time to watch. I appreciate it.

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Image via Peacock

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When you made a short film, that was your own take on what could be a possible Fresh Prince reboot and put it out into the world, what were you hoping for? What inspired you to do it and what did you think could actually happen with it?

COOPER: It was just pure inspiration. It was just something that I was incredibly excited to make when the idea hit me. I knew it was a special idea right off the bat. I knew it in my core being. For me, when you have that idea that keeps you up at night, you’ve gotta find a way to make it, so we made a short film in my hometown of Kansas City. Shout out to the hometown. We released it in March 2019, and Will [Smith]’s company Westbrook reached out in under 24 hours from when it was released. I went to Calabasas the next day and I FaceTimed with Will. He was down in Miami shooting Bad Boys 3 there. He was just so excited about my vision for my reimagined take. I flew down in Miami a few weeks later, and we talked about what this would look like as a 60-minute drama. At the end of the trip, we shook hands and decided to get into business and bring this thing to the screen. It’s been quite a ride. The passion that I have today for it is still the same passion that I had when the idea hit me, driving down 71 highway in my hometown. It’s been amazing.

Because it seems like the response to it happened pretty quick, did you even have a minute to stop and go, “Okay, what am I getting myself into? What is happening? Am I being punked?” Did you just go with it?

COOPER: I felt very ready for it all, honestly. I get that a lot. People are like, “How are you so calm through it all?” It’s just because I felt ready. Growing up in Kansas City and just my career, I’ve put in a lot of work in my craft over the years. When opportunity meets timing, you just make sure you’re ready, and I felt ready for the entire process. I’ve learned so much. Another thing is just stepping into it with the spirit of wonder and excitement to learn. I’ve learned so much through this process and I can’t say enough about this incredible casting crew who have helped take this vision to the next level. That’s what it’s all about.

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Image via Peacock

What led you on this path? Did you always just want to be a filmmaker? Did you want to be a storyteller? Was it the artistry of it?

COOPER: When I graduated high school in 2010, I bought a little Cannon T2i in the line of a Best Buy. My dad loaned me a hundred dollars to get it. I took that camera and within two days, I said, “This is what I wanna do for the rest of my life.” I didn’t go to film school. I didn’t go to college. That wasn’t gonna happen, so I had to make it happen. I always said, “Who’s gonna tell my cousin’s story?” I wanted to tell the stories that no one else wanted to, or couldn’t tell, or maybe weren’t thinking about telling because they were honest to me. It was really just diving into the craft and becoming really strong from a technical perspective, to where I could forget about the technical stuff and just focus on the storytelling. It was really about just putting in the 10,000 hours and gravitating towards the things that were honest to me, creatively, and pursuing it with everything I had. It’s worked out and I’m very, very thankful for it. I wake up, every day, thankful that I get to live my dream every day.

When you have passion for something and you want to learn how to do it, you can definitely find a way, if you’re determined enough.

COOPER: One hundred percent. I like to call it YouTube University. There’s so much great information out there online, through YouTube and different educational platforms to learn filmmaking and become good at the craft. It was just putting in the time, outside of the gigs I was doing. I was in my apartment doing light lighting tests and lens tests and honing my craft, as a cinematographer, which I did in the commercial space for years. So, when the idea hit me to do the trailer, I was ready for it. There’s a reason it looks the way it looks and it has the aesthetic and the feel of it. It’s through all the hours of the craft and applying it to this vision that I was, and still am, incredibly excited about and passionate about.

What was is it like to walk onto set that first day, as a director? Were there moments that you were totally overwhelmed? Did you just feel like, “Okay, I’ve got this”? What was that like to be on a set like this, where all those things are provided for you?

COOPER: It was such an incredible feeling. We actually started the shoot in West Philadelphia, on 60th and Market. I remember, me and my assistant Bernardo just walked and canvased the entire block, as the production designers, setting up the street for one of the big shots that we had set up the very first scene. We were just walking around and experiencing the community and saying, “Wow, this is incredible.” I felt so ready for it. I didn’t feel overwhelmed. I felt absolutely where I belonged, and that was great. I’m very, very thankful for that. It was pretty surreal, but at the same time, there was no other place I’d rather be. I really believe that’s exactly where I belong.

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Image via Peacock

You’re making the show alongside the original series creators, Will Smith, Quincy Jones and Benny Medina. They’re all involved as producers, which is a lot of clout right there. What’s it like to take on that responsibility, but also know that they’re there to uplift you?

COOPER: Absolutely. It’s a big responsibility, but one that I wanted. It was something that I took very personally because I care so much about the IP. I care so much about Fresh Prince. I know how much it means to me, my family, my friends, the culture, in general. It’s everything to us, and I didn’t take that lightly. I want Will and all the stakeholders to know that this is in good hands. It’s just about being ready, every single day, and waking up in gratitude. And if you don’t know something, ask. I can confidently say that everybody involved has just been so supportive of the vision and have done nothing but uplift the vision, through their wisdom and experience. It’s been an incredible process, and it’s still just the beginning. We got a two-season order.

It definitely says a lot about the material that you have everybody involved. It’s not just one person. It’s not just Will Smith. It’s everybody that got involved with this, which I think really says a lot about the quality of the work.

COOPER: Thank you so much. What I wanted to do is create something that we can all rally behind. When people can sense that something is coming from the heart, they want to be involved with that vision, and this thing came from the heart. This idea was not born in a corporate boardroom out in L.A. or New York. This was born in the Midwest, in my hometown of Kansas City, Missouri, when I was riding down the highway. I drove under an overpass and the idea hit me. It comes from a really grassroots place of just wanting to tell the story authentically and wanting it to feel very handmade, with how we made it.

Fresh Prince is a show that I watched, and I’m very familiar with it and the theme song. How do you approach deciding what you want to pull from the original series? There are little nods throughout this series, so how do you ou figure out where to place those Easter eggs?

COOPER: That’s such a good question. For us, it was all about, how can we have those fun nods to the sitcom, and do it in a way that’s really organic to the story? In the writers’ room and through the process of the scriptwriting, it’s important for us to never try to jam through these nods and Easter eggs, just to do it. It’s about, how can we implement them in a way that’s organic and makes them more satisfying when you do see them?

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Image via Peacock

The Carlton dance is the obvious one that seems like it would be much more difficult to naturally fit in somewhere, but there are a lot of other things that you can do to pay homage.

COOPER: Absolutely, there are a lot of fun nods throughout. We wanted to approach it from a place that felt very handmade and very specific and, at times, very niche, in a way. We wanted to really tap into very specific cultural touchstones that we hope to introduce to the world, all in the hopes of really conveying, from an honest place, that the Black experience is not a singular idea. We’re so multifaceted, and we occupy so many different spaces, and it’s important for people to see that and have a more holistic view of the culture.

Casting your lead must have been a tall order. You’re looking for someone to step into the shoes of Will Smith and play a character that’s actually named Will Smith, and they have to have a personality to lead the show and be number one on set and set the tone for everything. Were you ever nervous that wouldn’t come together? What was that whole process like? Did you just know when you find the right person?

COOPER: It was very challenging to eventually find Jabari [Banks]. Casting Will was a very, very challenging period of the project. I had to have seen hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of auditions, to try to find this kid because you need a unicorn. With the size of the shoes that they’re filling and the real Will Smith, you need a young man who has all the charisma, the swagger, the dramatic chops and the vulnerability in their eyes, to create those really compelling, dramatic moments. You’re looking for a unicorn who can play basketball because that’s a part of his story. I remember we were in Philadelphia, scouting for the shoot, and we had a chance to meet young Jabari Banks, after one of his auditions. We met with him and, sitting down with him, within five minutes of that, I said, “I think this is Will. I think we found our Will.” We went outside of the hotel that we met in, and I had my little Fuji camera and I took these pictures of him, and I walked away saying, “This is him. We’ve got him.” But there are a lot of different decision-makers. It was a very challenging process, but we absolutely landed on the right Will, in the form of Jabari Banks. He shines so bright.

I can’t believe that this is his first professional acting job.

COOPER: Yeah.

What has it been like to see him on set, from day one, and to see the journey that he’s taken, as an actor, just in one season?

COOPER: Jabari Banks is fearless. Since day one in Philadelphia, from the very first take, he approached it with ultimate confidence, and he hasn’t stopped since. Every episode, every take, he’s just so committed to getting better. That’s what it’s all about to me. If we’re here, doing this craft, and we get to wake up and live our dream every day, let’s get better at it. Let’s challenge ourselves to elevate the art. And Jabari gets that, at such a young age. He set the tone right away with this shoot, and hasn’t looked back.

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Image via Peacock

The character in this that seems the most obviously different is Carlton. That original character was rooted in comedy and silliness. How did you find this Carlton? What shaped him and made him the character that we see?

COOPER: It was just about grounding the spirit of that character from the sitcom. We were like, what would that actually look like in modern-day life? He’s a young Black man, who grew up in Bel Air in a space where there aren’t a lot of people that look like him. All of a sudden, there’s this culture clash with his cousin, coming from the very different, very specific culture of West Philadelphia, so what happens when those two worlds collide? The competitive nature, when young teenagers get involved, it wouldn’t be so funny. That really grounded it through a dramatic lens, when you take a closer look at that dynamic. We wanted to explore it in an honest way, and this is where we landed, in terms of our take with Carlton. Olly [Sholotan] does such a fantastic job portraying that role. He’s just such a phenomenal actor and has elevated that role so much, through his performance. It’s pretty special.

When you did this short, and thinking about it since then, how much of a plan did you have for what you’d like to see with this show? Do you know what will happen for five seasons? Have you thought that far ahead? Do you have a good sense of what Season 2 will be?

COOPER: That’s a great question. It was really amazing, the fact that Peacock believed enough in this vision to grant us a two-season order. That’s really helpful because we know that we have two seasons to write to. If it’s just one season, then that can and shape the way that you approach some of the storytelling. Knowing that we have that runway has just been super beneficial in allowing us to really open our minds to the possibilities, knowing that we’re writing two seasons instead of one. We see so much potential in these characters.

Is there something that you feel you’ve learned more about, that you hadn’t even thought about before getting onto a set like this? Are there aspects of filmmaking that you’ve been really inspired by, that you hadn’t necessarily known about or thought about, until making this show?

COOPER: Great question. I learn something new, every single day. I always say, if I’m not learning something, I don’t wanna do it. I’m committed to learning and growing in my craft and growing as a human being, and I think filmmaking is the intersection of both of those ideas. At least in my experience, I grow as a filmmaker as I grow as a human being. Part of being a good filmmaker is growing as a human, understanding better communication, how to be more thoughtful with your craft, how to go deeper into the emotional complexities of these characters that you’re portraying on screen. I don’t wanna do it, if I’m not learning. I learn something new, every single day, from this cast, from this amazing crew, and just from everybody involved with every part of the process. Some things are small and some things are big, but every day, I wanna wake up and learn and just get a little bit better. I’m still the same kid who bought the T2i when I was 18. I still approach it with the same sense of wonder. Even though I’m far more experienced in my journey, I never wanna lose that spirit of loving this craft and wanting to get better at it, every day.

Do you have projects in a drawer, or on a file on a computer, that you’re hoping to get to next, that this show has really helped you get a better sense of?

COOPER: That’s a great question. I have a lot of projects, in a drawer, in the file cabinets, in the refrigerator, up in the attic. There are so many things I want to make. I’ve got a lot of ideas, both for the TV and the feature film side, that I can’t wait to make in the future. Even though it’s been quite a journey over the past several years with Bel-Air and we’re coming to the end of Season 1, I feel more creatively inspired than ever and really energized. We’ve gotta tell these stories. The world needs these stories, and I’m excited to be a part of bringing them to the screen.

Bel-Air is available to stream at Peacock.