Will Smith Recalls Going Too Far Getting Stuck In Real Chains While Playing A Slave In Emancipation, Says “The Key Didn’t Work”

Will Smith recently spoke about his slavery role in Emancipation revealing his role introduced him to God and got his faith strong

By
Koimoi.com Team
- August 5, 2023 | 3:41 PM IST
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Hollywood star Will Smith starred in one of the most engrossing movies of 2022 i.e. Emancipation where he played the role of real-life man who escaped slavery and was also the subject of the iconic 1863 photo of “Whipped Peter.” In a recent interview, Smith recalled getting heavily chained for the role and how taxing it proved to be him ultimately causing him to panic. Scroll down to know the details.

Will Smith sat down with comedian and actor Kevin Hart for the latter’s show Hart to Heart, where he shed light on his role in Emancipation. In the same interview, Smith also recalled how he initially was not interested in doing Men In Black until Steven Spielberg flew a Helicopter to meet him.

Speaking of Emancipation, Will Smith told Kevin Hart, as per Insider, “Just bringing it up, I start to get teary. I wanted to feel the degradation of slavery, and I went too far in. The level of human brutality, what we will do to each other.” The actor revealed that he could not shake off the character and continued, “I went too far in ‘Emancipation.” Recalling a frightening moment, Smith shared how once the crew couldn’t remove his neck chains. “I was like, ‘I want the real weight. I want the real chains. So they got old chains and they put it on my neck and they were fitting it for size and I’m standing there and the prop master went to put the key in and the key didn’t work,” shared Smith.

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The Oscar-winning star further stated, “And I was like, ‘Oh no. Will, relax. And 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.”

The Bad Boys star concluded that he was eventually freed from the chains but the character stuck with him. “It was one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had as an actor. Peter introduced me to God. My faith got solid after working on that movie.”

Will Smith, in 2022, shared about the same role saying, “It twists your mind up. You have to be really careful” adding, “It turns off your agency. You don’t want to step, you don’t want to move, you don’t want to look anybody in the face. It’s deeply dehumanizing.”

For the unversed, Emancipation was helmed by Antoine Fuqua and was released on Apple TV+ in December 2022.

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