“We talked about our experiences, our relationships, our hopes and fears during that period, even our hatreds - and there were some. And while he has spoken about Hubert’s unhappiness with Smith’s dominant role in the show in the past, Marcell says now that everyone was as happy to be there as he was. Fearful of spoiling anything, Marcell keeps fairly mum about the proceedings, saying only that it offers several big surprises. Smith has teased several aspects of the reunion on his Instagram, including a sit-down with Janet Hubert, who played his character’s Aunt Viv until she left the show after Season 3 and began a years-long public feud with him. Uncle Phil, during the cast’s virtual reunion. Will Smith, Alfonso Ribeiro and other “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” alumni saluted the late James Avery, a.k.a. Television Will Smith wipes tears while honoring James Avery during ‘Fresh Prince’ reunion And while seeing the familiar faces in little squares on his screen was nice, it didn’t compare to the real-life celebration of the ’90s hit that launched Will Smith’s career - and was Marcell’s first opportunity to work with an all-Black cast. “I was like the man in the woods, my hair, my beard were going wild,” he recalls with a laugh. A brief reunion in April via Zoom to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the show’s premiere was not enough. “I can’t imagine doing a drama.”Īnd it was all worth it, he adds. And this was a low-pressure reunion show,” he says. There was me and a chair in a room and one came in, then the other - and if there were adjustments to my costume, I had to make a mental note or write them down. I had my hair done, my makeup and my costume, but the people only worked with me. “Our temperatures were taken, everyone wore masks, except the actors when we were acting. Thrilled to be reunited, in person, with the surviving cast of the 1990s NBC hit that made Will Smith a household name thrilled to see costar DJ Jazzy Jeff fully recovered from his March bout with COVID-19 thrilled to be on the vanguard of the entertainment industry’s slow and careful return to production. “It’s a bit of an adjustment,” is how he describes the most unusual working conditions of his 50-year career, speaking from London on day three. Even if it meant taking a COVID test upon arrival and self-isolating until the results came back negative - then taking another test just before the shoot, which spread over two long days that were filled with joy but also marked by “the new normal.”Įven if it meant entering a 14-day quarantine upon his return to the U.K. “I was going to do it.”Įven if it meant flying from the eerie stillness of Heathrow to the eerie stillness of LAX, face mask firmly in place at all times. It took a little consideration, and the only way to operate is to follow the guidelines - but, of course,” he adds, laughing. I spoke with my wife, my daughter and my son. after all, no one understood princely demands better than Shakespeare.Īnd how could Marcell say no? James Avery’s death in 2014 left a gaping hole in the cast - already bereft of Uncle Phil, the Banks family and friends could never do without their proper English butler Geoffrey.Īs a man of a certain age, Marcell says, “I had to ask myself, ‘Am I willing to risk my life for this?’ But I was flattered that they included me, and I felt certain they would do everything humanly possible to protect us. But when he was asked to join the cast of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” in early September to shoot a reunion special for HBO Max, well. In fact, Joseph Marcell may be the only one.Ī longtime Shakespearean actor and board member of Shakespeare’s Globe theater in London, Marcell has spent much of the coronavirus shutdown working to ensure that the hugely popular replica of the 15th century original does not suffer the fate many theaters fear - permanent closure. Not every actor can say he took a mid-pandemic break from fighting for the Bard to fete a prince.