“There was a cockiness to him”: Robin Williams’ Beloved Aladdin Had To Take Tom Cruise As Inspiration By Basing Disney Character On His Worst Traits

Robin Williams has starred in multiple superhit movies, including animated ones. One of his most animated movies is Disney’s original animated classic Aladdin. It has been more than 30 years since the movie was released, but it still continues to enjoy the utmost popularity among people, both young and old.

Aladdin is one of the most popular Disney classics

While William’s Genie was created keeping the actor in mind, the hero of Agrabah aka Aladdin was based on another famous Hollywood actor, Tom Cruise, and for a surprisingly weird reason.

Tom Cruise Inspired Disney’s Popular Character Aladdin

Aladdin was based on Top Gun star Tom Cruise

Aladdin is an iconic Disney character that continues to be loved and appreciated. Starting as an ordinary person who goes through trials and tribulations and ultimately emerges as a humble hero, he has many likable qualities. But despite the charms and reliability of the character, there is a slight cockiness and attitude to him that makes him almost human.

It was his ‘cockiness’ which was inspired by the Top Gun star. The supervising animator of the character, Gene Keane revealed how Aladdin eventually ended up becoming like Tom Cruise.

“At one point, when we were working on Aladdin, I was thinking of him more like a Michael J. Fox character.” 

However, the studio realized that while Jasmine was coming along nicely, her lead’s personality was lagging behind. It was then the development team noticed Cruise’s character and looks in Top Gun. 

“I got the film and I looked at him, and what I noticed was all of his poses. His attitudes. There was this confidence. The way his chest stuck out. There was a cockiness to him. And Aladdin, we wanted to have a little bit of that edge on him.”

And that is how the Aladdin we know and love today came about.

Meanwhile, Genie Was Written For Robin Williams From The Start

Genie was written just for Robin Williams

The late Robin Williams was a renowned comedian and actor who despite starring as an animated character did a wonderful job of playing Genie. The co-director Ron Clements remarked once,

“Right from the start, we saw the Genie as a very special character in this movie, and the concept of him being able to change form constantly was there right from the start. We wrote the script for Robin Williams from the beginning.”

Not only did he make the whole movie more exciting to watch, but his portrayal eventually earned him a special Golden Globe award which was created just for him.