Will Smith in Antoine Fuqua’s ‘Emancipation’
*Will Smith shared a video on Instagram of himself taking a break during the making of his latest project “Emancipation,” directed by Antoine Fuqua.
In the clip, a visibly emotional Smith is seen sitting in a chair underneath an umbrella in the woods and basking in the rain. “I love the rain, I love how it makes everything stop. It’s beautiful,” he says in the video.
“It’s also a moment I want to find for the character,” the actor explains.
“In the middle of all of the hell, he just finds a moment of the beauty of God in nature and realizes that the problem is man,” Smith says. “The problem’s in the hearts of men, it’s not in God’s world. God’s world is actually beautiful.”
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“One of the most beautiful moments shooting #emancipation,” Smith captioned the Instagram post. Watch the clip above.
Per the official synopsis: Emancipation” tells the triumphant story of Peter (Smith), a man who escapes from slavery, relying on his wits, unwavering faith and deep love for his family to evade cold-blooded hunters and the unforgiving swamps of Louisiana on his quest for freedom. The film is inspired by the 1863 photos of “Whipped Peter,” taken during a Union Army medical examination, that first appeared in Harper’s Weekly. One image, known as “The Scourged Back,” which shows Peter’s bare back mutilated by a whipping delivered by his enslavers, ultimately contributed to growing public opposition to slavery.
“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,” Smith said in October when the film screened as part of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 51st Annual Legislative Conference.
Smith stars in the film alongside Ben Foster, Charmaine Bingwa, Gilbert Owuor, Mustafa Shakir, Steven Ogg, Grant Harvey, Ronnie Gene Bivens, Jayson Warner Smith, Jabbar Lewis, Michael Luwoye, Aaron Moten and Imani Pullum.
“Emancipation” is due to be released in select theaters on Dec. 2, before it hits Apple TV+ on Dec. 9.
