Watch "Will Smith" Emancipation (2022) Movie Teaser HD

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A runaway slave forges through the swamps of Louisiana on a tortuous journey to escape plantation owners that nearly killed him.

Emancipation is a 2022 American historical action thriller film directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by William N. Collage. The film stars Will Smith and Ben Foster.

Emancipation had its first screening in Washington, D.C. on October 1, 2022. It is scheduled to be released in limited theaters on December 2, 2022, before releasing on Apple TV+ on December 9.

After being whipped nearly to death, an enslaved person named Peter escapes from a Louisiana plantation, outwitting cold-blooded hunters, as he makes his way North, where he joins the Union Army. The film is based on the true story of Gordon. Photographs of his bare back, heavily scourged from an overseer's whippings, were published worldwide in 1863, giving the abolitionist movement proof of the cruelty of American slavery.[1]

Production"-
On June 15, 2020, it was reported that Antoine Fuqua would direct Will Smith in Emancipation, based on a spec script written by William N. Collage.[2] Producer Joey McFarland, who had started researching and developing the film in 2018, recruited Collage to write the script.[3] On making the film, Fuqua said:

"It's almost two years now from when I first read the script. It hit my heart and my soul in so many ways that are impossible to convey but I think you understand. We're watching some of the feeling that I had, in the streets right now. There's sadness, there's anger, there's love, faith and hope ... That's important to see, and the most hopeful thing that I'm seeing, that they're not going to stand for it anymore."[2]

Warner Bros, MGM, Lionsgate, and Universal Pictures bid on the film before Apple ultimately won distribution rights for over $130 million.[1][4][5] In August 2021, Ben Foster, Charmaine Bingwa, Gilbert Owuor, and Mustafa Shakir joined the cast.[6] Smith earned $35 million for his part in the film.[7]

Principal photography was expected to begin on May 3, 2021, in Los Angeles.[8] It was later set to begin on June 21, 2021, in Georgia,[9] but on April 12, it was announced that the film would be shot elsewhere due to the recently-enacted Election Integrity Act of 2021. Smith and Fuqua said in a joint statement: "We cannot in good conscience provide economic support to a government that enacts regressive voting laws that are designed to restrict voter access."[9][10] The location move was reported to have cost approximately $15 million.[9] Filming was announced to take place in New Orleans from July 12 to August 21, 2021.[11] On August 2, filming paused for five days as a result of several positive COVID-19 tests.[12] Additional casting for the film was announced in November and December.[13][14]

In May 2022, the film's release was delayed to a possible 2023 date, with the given reasons being numerous production delays, the controversy over Smith slapping Chris Rock at the 94th Academy Awards, and an overcrowded film release schedule from Apple.[15] It was subsequently moved to its December 2022 date.

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