Will Smith is sharing how “Emancipation” revitalized his religious beliefs.
The 2022 historical epic, helmed by Antoine Fuqua, starred Smith as real-life former slave “Whipped Peter.” The film was inspired by the 1863 photos of “Whipped Peter” taken during a Union Army medical examination and showed the scars on Peter’s back; the photograph, first published in Harper’s Weekly, added to the growing public opposition to slavery.
For the film, Smith wore real metal chains to evoke the reality that Peter dealt with.
“I went too far in ‘Emancipation.’ Just bringing it up, I start to get teary,” Smith said during Kevin Hart’s Peacock talk show “Hart to Heart.” “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.”
Smith almost had a panic attack after being locked into chains on set and going “face to face with that level of atrocity” of being trapped.
“I’m standing there and they’re running around and they couldn’t get me out of it,” the Best Actor Oscar winner recalled. “I’m standing there in those chains, right on that hyperventilating edge.”
However, Smith said he “wouldn’t give it back” as the film led to his deeper commitment to religion.
“It was one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had as an actor. Peter introduced me to God,” Smith said. “My faith got solid after working on that movie.”
The actor previously detailed the “grueling” production to Vanity Fair, saying, “We had therapists and spiritual teachers on set. We had a pastor. The daily reminder of the merciless treatment of a race of people was punishing to our spirits. And yet, I don’t think I would want to ‘shake off’ Peter. The concept that Peter illuminated for me is that heaven and hell are states of consciousness. For me to have the opportunity to walk in Peter’s trial, and try to understand and dissect what is going on in the heart and mind of a man who has endured what he has endured — and survived — is a gift. It is a source of new inspiration and has helped me to cultivate a higher capacity for empathy.”
