Emancipation - Dir: Antoine Fuqua | Starring Will Smith

[Darth Marcus]

Source: Variety

Will Smith and Antoine Fuqua Team on Runaway Slave Thriller ‘Emancipation’
Justin Kroll - 06/15/2020

Will Smith will star in the thriller “Emancipation,” which will be directed by Antoine Fuqua, sources tell Variety.

William N. Collage penned the script, based on the true story of Peter, a runaway slave forced to outwit cold-blooded hunters and the punishing Louisiana swamp on a tortuous journey to the Union Army and his only chance at freedom.

Production is expected to start early in 2021.

Smith, James Lassiter and Jon Mone will produce “Emancipation” through Westbrook Studios, along with McFarland Entertainment’s Joey McFarland and Escape Artists’ Todd Black. Fuqua will executive produce under his Fuqua Films banner, alongside Cliff Roberts.

CAA Media Finance, which arranged the financing for the film, represents U.S. rights; Film Nation Entertainment represents international sales. The movie will also be introduced to buyers at the upcoming virtual Cannes market.

Both Smith and Fuqua were in the middle of productions that were halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Smith had to stop filming on Warner Bros.’ biopic “King Richard,” in which Smith portrays the father and coach of tennis icons Venus and Serena Williams. Meanwhile, Fuqua was in post-production on Paramount’s action thriller “Infinite.”

Smith most recently starred in Paramount’s sci-fi epic “Gemini Man,” as well as Disney’s smash hit “Aladdin,” where he played the Genie. Fuqua, whose credits include “Training Day,” “Olympus Has Fallen” and “The Equalizer,” was a producer on “#FreeRayShawn” for Quibi.

Smithis repped by CAA and Overbrook Entertainment while Fuqua is repped by CAA. The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.

[Cremildo]

Nice to see Fuqua stretching himself a bit, subject matter-wise.

[Elgie]

My first thought was that Smith wants to make up for turning down Django.

[tcripe]

Originally Posted by Elgie

My first thought was that Smith wants to make up for turning down Django.

I can only imagine how much he regrets that decision.

[Cremildo]

Huge Virtual Cannes Battle: Bids North Of $75 Million On Antoine Fuqua-Will Smith Runaway Slave Tale ‘Emancipation’

[Alister_M]

Originally Posted by Cremildo

Nice to see Fuqua stretching himself a bit, subject matter-wise.

He's been doing that quite a bit lately, with the likes of Southpaw and the Muhammad Ali and Suge Knight documentaries. I'm still hoping for another Equalizer though

[Col. Zombie]

Sounds great! Hope Smith can pull this one off.

[Cremildo]

Originally Posted by Alister_M

He's been doing that quite a bit lately, with the likes of Southpaw

That was a good one.

[Himmel]

Cannes Update:

EXCLUSIVE: It is a close race down to the wire on Emancipation between Apple and Warner Bros, and when the dust settles, sources said that there will be a record breaking deal for a festival pre-buy, as the bidding is in the $130 million vicinity from a gross standpoint, with around $110 million net. Source

[Cremildo]

Filming has been suspended due to some positive COVID cases.

[Himmel]

Ben Foster, Charmaine Bingwa, Gilbert Owuor & Mustafa Shakir Have Joined

[UltraMario9]

Originally Posted by tcripe

I can only imagine how much he regrets that decision.

Very much, I assume.

[Cremildo]

To be delayed to 2023.

[Poya]

Apple, you can delay the movie all you want. Nobody will ever forget. Especially when it's becoming a trend now.

[Cremildo]

Emancipation — Official Teaser | Apple TV+ - YouTube

[50strat54]

Originally Posted by Poya

Apple, you can delay the movie all you want. Nobody will ever forget. Especially when it's becoming a trend now.

People have short memories

[Monterey Jack]

Wow, a potential Oscar frontrunner, now an Apple TV exclusive.

[Cremildo]

Originally Posted by Monterey Jack

Wow, a potential Oscar frontrunner, now an Apple TV exclusive.

Well, this year's Oscar winner was an Apple TV+ exclusive...

[Hedrox]

Originally Posted by Monterey Jack

Wow, a potential Oscar frontrunner, now an Apple TV exclusive.

Will Smith has been in a surprising amount of Oscar-bait movies at this point and outside of King Richard they've all been misses.

It's also surprising how Antoine Fuqua keeps getting high profile gigs even though he's only made 1 good movie in his entire career, and that was 21 years ago.

[BloodshotUSA]

Originally Posted by Cremildo

[Show spoiler]Emancipation — Official Teaser | Apple TV+ - YouTube

Are they planning to have the movie actually look like that or is that just for the trailer? Movie almost looked like it was practically black and white in most scenes.

Not sure either how I feel about the accent. Maybe it would have been better if Will Smith used his normal voice.

The trailer was surprising. I expected it to be action oriented like Django.