Will Smith’s press tour for “Emancipation” kicked off, with the actor directly addressing moviegoers who weren’t yet ready to embrace his work after his Oscar slap earlier this year. “Emancipation,” a slavery drama directed by Antoine Fuqua, is Smith’s first major film since the 2022 Academy Awards, where he took the stage and slapped presenter Chris Rock in the face for a joke at the expense of Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
“I totally understand — if someone isn’t ready, I’ll fully respect that and allow them space for not being ready,” Smith told journalist Kevin McCarthy when asked what he would say to moviegoers who aren’t ready for his return. “My deepest concern is my team – Antoine has done what I believe is the greatest job of his entire career. The people on this team have done some of the best work of their entire careers, and I hope my actions don’t penalize my team. At this point, that’s what I’m working towards.” “.
Smith added, “I hope that the material—the strength of the film, the timing of the story—I hope that the good that can be done will at least open people’s hearts to see, learn about, and support the wonderful artists in and around this film.”
“Emancipation” is based on a true story and stars Smith as an escaped slave named Peter, better known to the world as “Whipped Peter” after he was handed out pictures of the keloid scars on his back to show the brutality of slavery. The film follows Peter as he navigates the swamps of Louisiana to escape plantation owners who nearly kill him.
In an interview earlier this month with Vanity Fairdirector Antoine Fuqua defended releasing “Emancipation” the same year it slapped Smith’s Oscars.
“The movie, for me, is bigger than that moment,” Fuqua said. Four hundred years of slavery is greater than one moment. I hope people see it that way, watch the movie, and get swept away with the fantastic performance by Will and all the real hard work put in by the entire crew.”
According to Fuqua, the commitment to release the film in 2022 was a “full conversation with Apple” but “there hasn’t been any conversation with me and with Apple or my producers about the movie.” Not Out.”
“Of course I wanted people to see the movie,” Fuqua said. “My talk was always, ‘Isn’t 400 years of slavery and brutality more important than one bad moment? We were in Hollywood, and some really ugly things happened, and we saw a lot of people getting awards who did some really bad things. So I think Apple looked at all those things, and we discussed a lot of those things. Then the people in charge of distribution and money at Apple made a decision. – And I’m really, really grateful.”
“Emancipation” premieres in theaters December 2 and will begin streaming on Apple TV+ starting December 9.
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