Following months of controversy and rumors of his various projects getting shelved, Will Smith is getting his career back on track with the first screening of his next movie. Called Emancipation, the film was developed for a streaming release on Apple TV+, though there had been reports that its release was postponed after the controversy Smith had generated at the Academy Awards. Emancipation had wrapped filming shortly before the Oscars where Smith slapped Chris Rock over a Jada Pinkett Smith joke, getting the King Richard actor banned from Academy events for the next decade.
There have since been rumors of Apple moving forward with the release of Emancipation after all now that much of the controversy surrounding Smith has died down. If the movie is released later this year, it would be eligible as a contender for next year's awards season. It's worth noting that Smith can still potentially be nominated for Oscars even if he is not welcome at the ceremony to accept an award in person. Perhaps the reactions viewers had from this first screening, hosted by NAACP and held at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's 51st Annual Legislative Conference, will influence the final release plans for the film.
Per THR, Smith was present to participate in a conversation after the screening with director Antoine Fuqua and Mary Elliott, curator of American Slavery at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture; Angela Rye served as host. Here's what the actor is quoted as saying about the film.
“Throughout my career, I’ve turned down many films that were set in slavery. I never wanted to show us like that. And then this picture came along. And this is not a film about slavery. This is a film about freedom. This is a film about resilience. This is a film about faith. This is a film about the heart of a man — what could be called the first viral image. Cameras had just been created, and the image of whipped Peter went around the world. It was a rallying cry against slavery, and this was a story that exploded and blossomed in my heart that I wanted to be able to deliver to you in a way that only Antoine Fuqua could deliver.”
Will Smith Just Might Win an Oscar for Emancipation, Even If He Can't Go to the Ceremony
Emancipation is directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by William N. Collage. Smith produced with Jon Mone via Westbrook Studios, Joey McFarland via McFarland Entertainment, and Todd Black via Escape Artists. Fuqua executive produced with Chris Brigham, James Lassiter, Heather Washington, Cliff Roberts, Glen Basner, and Scott Greenberg
In the film, which is based on true events, Smith plays a slave named Peter who escapes his plantation in search of his family. While evading capture from his pursuers, Peter joins the Union Army. A famous photograph of Peter's bare back covered in scars from a horrendous whipping showcased the utter horror slaves had endured in America.
Emancipation does not yet have a premiere date set at Apple TV+.