Will Smith plays an escaped slave in the Antoine Fuqua movie who turns up in a well-known picture.
Everyone seems to have nothing but positive things to say about Antoine Fuqua’s upcoming Apple TV+ film Emancipation, which stars Will Smith as the real-life slave who famously posed for a photo published in Harper’s Weekly that showcased his horribly scarred back (a crucial piece of compelling evidence for campaigns against slavery at the time). Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP, is quoted by Entertainment Weekly as remarking that he “can’t begin to express how profound this is for OUR community and OUR history.” Smith added that although he has previously rejected films about slavery, “this is not a film about slavery.” He explains instead, “This is a movie about independence. This movie is about perseverance. This movie deals with faith.
While Fuqua declines to declare that he believes Emancipation is his best work, he does acknowledge that he said after the movie was finished that it was his “strongest piece of work” and “definitely” his “most meaningful” work. Deadline posted a trailer for the movie and spoke with Fuqua about it. That final statement appears to be supported by Apple, with Fuqua telling Deadline that the firm “never stopped talking about distributing the picture” despite Will Smith’s Oscars slap of Chris Rock and the production’s relocation from Georgia to Louisiana.
After watching the trailer, which is fairly intense and heavily relies on what appears to be a very intense performance from Will Smith—who, let’s not forget, also won the Best Actor Oscar earlier this year in addition to that other thing—it is easy to understand why Apple didn’t want to let distractions sideline this project.
Emancipation has a December 2 theatre release date and a December 9 AppleTV+ debut.
