Will Smith says he 'went too far' in immersing himself in his role as an enslaved man for the movie 'Emancipation'
Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP; Apple TV+
- Will Smith said he "went too far" into his role as an enslaved man in the 2022 film "Emancipation."
- "I wanted to feel the degradation of slavery and I went too far in," he told Kevin Hart in an interview.
- Yet, Smith said that the role "was one of the greatest experiences I've ever had as an actor."
Will Smith said he became too engrossed by his role as an enslaved man in the film "Emancipation," and couldn't shake off the character.
"I went too far in 'Emancipation,'" Smith recalled during an appearance on Kevin Hart's Peacock show "Hart to Heart."
"Emancipation," directed by Antoine Fuqua and released on Apple TV+ in December, was based on the story of a real-life man who escaped slavery and was the subject of the famous 1863 photo of "Whipped Peter."
Smith said that his involvement in the film was one of two times in his acting career that he's ever become too immersed in a role and lost himself.
"Just bringing it up, I start to get teary," Smith told Hart during the interview. "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."
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Smith said that the role took a toll on him. In one frightening moment on set, the crew couldn't remove his neck chains, causing the actor to panic.
"I was like, 'I want the real weight. I want the real chains,'" Smith said. "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. And I was like, 'Oh no. Will, relax.'"
He continued: "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."
Smith was eventually freed from the chains, but the character has stuck with him since and he's had dreams about Peter.
Despite the weight of the role, Smith said that he has no regrets.
"I wouldn't give it back," he said. "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."