Will Smith said that in wanting to “feel the degradation of slavery” he went “too far” in filming the Apple TV+ slavery film, Emancipation.
While appearing on a new episode of Kevin Hart’s Peacock series Hart to Heart, the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star opened up about portraying a slave in the 2022 film, sharing that he “went too far” to make the character believable.
Smith revealed he got stuck in real slave chains.
“I went too far in ‘Emancipation,’” Smith told Hart. “Just bringing it up, I start to get teary. I wanted to feel the degradation of slavery, and I went too far in. That level of human brutality… I had the chains on my neck and we were working. I wanted the real weight of them. I wanted real chains. They put it on my neck and they were fitting it for size and the prop master went to put the key in and it didn’t work.”
He continued, “I’m standing there and they’re running around and they couldn’t get me out of it. I’m standing there in those chains, right on that hyperventilating edge.”
Though the experience left him shaken and having to "turn to God," Smith says "he wouldn’t give it back.”
“It was one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had as an actor. Peter introduced me to God,” he shared. “My faith got solid after working on that movie.”
Emancipation marked Smith’s first release after his notorious Oscars slap. The film “centered on the true story of a runaway slave named Peter, a photograph of whom became a rallying call for the abolition of slavery as it depicted his mutilated back scars from several whippings.”
The movie was directed by Antoine Fuqua.
