Throughout his prolific career, Will Smith has given life to countless characters of the most diverse; From manual action heroes to hunters dressed as aliens, to steampunk cowboys, the only survivors of universes dominated by vampires, real characters like Muhammad Ali himself … but there is a terrain that he had left to explore: the cinema about slavery.
The problem of revenge
In an interview for GQ, the star has confessed that this has been a fully conscious decision, has explained his reasons for avoiding this type of production, and has confessed the first time he was tempted by the idea of participating in one of them.
“I’ve always avoided making films about slavery. Early in my career … I didn’t want to portray black people that way. I wanted to be a superhero. So I wanted to play black excellence alongside my white colleagues. I wanted to play roles. you would give Tom Cruise. And the first time I considered doing it was ‘Django,’ but I didn’t want to make a slavery movie about revenge. “
During an interview for The Hollywood Reporter in 2015, Smith explained what was the main reason to get off the boat in Quentin Tarantino’s western, which ended up starring in Jamie Foxx.
“It was the creative direction of the story. For me, it’s the most perfect story you could wish for: a guy who learns to kill to get his enslaved wife back. That idea is perfect. It was just that Quentin and I couldn’t see each other. Me I wanted to make the greatest love story African Americans had ever seen. I wanted to make that movie with all my might, but I felt like the only way was for it to be a love story, not a revenge story. I don’t believe in violence like a response to violence “.
Will Smith is currently filming ‘Emancipation’ under the direction of Antoine Fuqua, a survival drama based on a true story in which he plays Peter; an escaped slave converted into proof of the horrors of slavery after the publication of a photograph in which the effects of the lashes to which he was subjected on the plantation can be seen on his back.