‘Emancipation’ is an Oscar contender for Will Smith and Antoine Fuqua
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Remember Will Smith's "Keep my wife's name out your f**king mouth" at the Oscars? Although he is banned from the Academy Awards after his recent hit, 'Emancipation', we are not too sure. Suppositions surrounding its star and director have been the current hot topic of discussion for awards season and the affliction of awards foretellers tracking their charts.
The Apple TV+ film is getting a plethora of praise for Smith's performance and overall storyline. Nevertheless, even if the film gets an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, unfortunately, the 'Men in Black' actor would not be able to attend or receive it. The movie is based on the true story of Gordon (named 'Peter' in the film), a former slave, and the photographs of his bare back, heavily scourged from an overseer's whippings, that were published worldwide in 1863, giving abolitionist movement proof of the cruelty of American slavery.
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People will eventually forget about the March Academy Award event where Smith slapped Chris Rock, the comedian after he made a joke which triggered the 'Pursuit of Happiness' star. Smith resigned from AMPAS and was banned from attending the ceremony or other Academy-sponsored events for 10 years. Regardless of the event, it didn't stop Smith from winning for 'King Richard', thus safe to assume it will not exclude Fuqua's 'Emancipation'.
Although, during a recent interview with Trevor Noah, Smith explained the psychology of the slap. "There are many nuances and complexities to it, you know, but at the end of the day, I just - I lost it,” Smith says through tears. “I guess what I would say, you just never know what somebody’s going through.” He tells Noah that the phrase “Hurt people hurt people” finally made sense to him afterward. “You just don’t know what’s going on with people,” he explains. “And I was going through something that night.” “Not that that justifies my behavior at all,” Smith adds.
Smith claims to have “no independent recollection” of the incident. As to why he did it, Smith speculates that “it was a lot of things,” including the trauma he experienced while growing up. “It was the little boy watching his mother beat up his father,” he shares. “All of that bubbled up in that moment. You know, just, that’s not who I want to be. I was gone. That was a rage that had been bottled for a really long time,” he concludes.