{"id":101263,"date":"2022-05-21T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-21T03:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/bel-air-star-jabari-banks-big-plans-from-rap-to-his-own-disneyland\/"},"modified":"2022-05-21T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-05-21T03:30:00","slug":"bel-air-star-jabari-banks-big-plans-from-rap-to-his-own-disneyland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/bel-air-star-jabari-banks-big-plans-from-rap-to-his-own-disneyland\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Bel-Air&#8217; Star Jabari Banks&#8217; Big Plans, From Rap to His Own Disneyland"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Jabari Banks remembers the exact date that his favorite actor, Chadwick Boseman, passed away. It was August 28, 2020, and Banks was working at a factory in Temecula, Calif., doing a temp job wrapping gutters. Yes, that is a job that Banks had just a year before getting his big break as the star of Peacock\u2019s \u201cBel-Air.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But back to the factory. \u201cMy mom got me a temp job, so I flew from Philly (yes, he\u2019s from West Philadelphia like a certain Fresh Prince you\u2019ve heard of) to Temecula where they paid for our housing, our transportation, our food and everything. Super sketchy.\u201d He was staying in the hotel when he got the news of Boseman\u2019s death. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s such an inspiration to me,\u201d Banks said. \u201cThat day I was like, I want to continue what he was doing for our community. I want to be an impact on the youth as like he was for me, and for so many people around me.\u201d The next year, like serendipity, he booked \u201cBel-Air\u201d on the same date.<\/p>\n<p>On this edition of the Variety Awards Circuit podcast, Selome Hailu and Michael Schneider talk to Banks about landing \u201cBel-Air,\u201d and how his own story seems to mirror that of the show\u2019s main character. Also in this episode, we chat with \u201cJulia\u201d star David Hyde Pierce about his HBO Max show, which chronicles the rise of TV chef Julia Child, what brought him back to TV and, of course, the legacy of \u201cFrasier.\u201d Listen below!<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/playlist.megaphone.fm?e=PMC9001717241\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Could there be anyone more suited to take on the role originally held by Will Smith on Peacock\u2019s reimagining of the popular 1990s sitcom \u201cThe Fresh Prince of Bel-Air\u201d than Jabari Banks? Besides the West Philadelphia similarities, Banks is also an aspiring rapper\u2026 and then there\u2019s his last name, Banks, which mirrors the name of the Bel-Air family that Will moves in with.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s an honor and it\u2019s a huge responsibility,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I know don\u2019t take it lightly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Banks says he knows people were skeptical at first with the idea of \u201cBel-Air\u201d: \u201cIt just really came from a pure place. And honestly, it\u2019s incredible, because we\u2019re standing on the shoulders of giants. The wingspan of this show is incredible, because it reaches for so many generations, and everybody knows it. And it\u2019s such a beloved TV series, it\u2019s a quintessential 90s sitcom. And so it\u2019s so it\u2019s everyone\u2019s baby, and they\u2019re like, \u2018we don\u2019t touch that we don\u2019t touch this.\u2019 But I was definitely confident, I was like, \u2018just wait and watch because we got some great things cooking up.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Banks also talks about his music, what his McDonald\u2019s themed meal would be, his love of sci-fi, his visual art hobby, the animated series he\u2019s developing\u2026 and the theme park he dreams of building. <\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, in the HBO Max series \u201cJulia,\u201d viewers see the rise of celebrity chef Julia Child (Sarah Lancashire) from French home cook to TV sensation. Right beside her was her husband Paul, played by David Hyde Pierce. Of course, Pierce rose to fame on \u201cFrasier\u201d as Niles, the snobbish brother of the title character. It\u2019s hard to believe it;s been nearly 20 years since that show ended its run, a fact you\u2019ll notice I stumble on when I realize my math is all wrong.<\/p>\n<p>We recently spoke to Pierce about what he learned about his character, Paul Child, in \u201cJulia,\u201d as well as his \u201cFrasier\u201d reunion with Bebe Neuwirth, who also appears on the show as Julia\u2019s sharp-tongued best friend Avis Devoto. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce I read the pilot and said yes, and then started digging into their lives together, I was really intrigued,\u201d Pierce says of the relationship between Paul and Julia. \u201cThey\u2019re just such complicated, interesting, wacky people. And then, I didn\u2019t know Sarah Lancashire\u2019s work at the time. But when I knew that she was playing the role, I did research there too, and I saw her on \u2018Last Tango in Halifax\u2019 and \u2018Happy Valley,\u2019 and even some of her really early TV work, just to get a sense of who this person was. And that made me feel very comfortable. If you do go and watch any of her stuff on British television, you will be completely unprepared for what she does as Julia because she\u2019s a chameleon. She\u2019s that kind of actor. She\u2019s very different in each role. The only thing consistent is that she\u2019s terrific.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pierce also talks about taking up judo and drawing for the show, and whether he might show up in the upcoming \u201cFrasier\u201d revival. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know Kelsey really wants to do it,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t know where it is, in terms of script or anything like that. I hope it happens for him. And then I\u2019lll see where I am and see what I\u2019m up to. But I certainly have a lot of love for him. And for everyone involved in the show. So I hope it goes well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><i>Variety\u2019s \u201cAwards Circuit\u201d podcast, produced by Michael Schneider, is your one-stop listen for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each week \u201cAwards Circuit\u201d features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives; discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines; and much, much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts. New episodes post every Thursday and Friday.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jabari Banks remembers the exact date that his favorite actor, Chadwick Boseman, passed away. It was August 28, 2020, and Banks was working at a factory in Temecula, Calif., doing a temp job wrapping gutters. Yes, that is a job that Banks had just a year before getting his big break as the star of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":101264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101,3,105,106],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Bel-Air-Star-Jabari-Banks-Big-Plans-From-Rap-to-His.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101263"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}