Will Smith opened up about a co-star he wouldn’t talk to while filming Emancipation and how much he bonded with Peter on set.
On Wednesday’s episode of Red Table Talk, Smith was joined by her three children, Trey, Willow and Jaden Smith. Jada Pinkett Smith and her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, did not appear in the episode, which was hosted by Will Smith.
During the interview, Smith shared a video message filmed by his colleague Ben Foster. The actor said he first “felt it” before seeing Smith on the first day. Foster, who played slave hunter Jim Fassel in the film, said Smith was “rocking” during filming.
“I think I did my best to Will Smith and Ben walked past me and didn’t say anything,” Smith recalled of the moment. “And I was like, ‘Oh, he must not have seen me.’ And then he didn’t talk to me for six months.
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Will Smith says he didn’t speak to co-star Ben Foster for six months while filming Emancipation.
(Getty Images)
“He didn’t make eye contact with me. He didn’t say a word. He didn’t acknowledge me for six months. But what he did the first day I said, ‘Yeah. I understand. We are not playing. This is true. This is serious. We are not fooled by these thoughts. I’m really grateful to Ben for helping me get to the next level of depth and focus.”
Smith then moved on to the moment when Foster decided to introduce himself.
“He never came to the monitor,” Smith said. “He comes to the monitor, watches the footage, and Antoine says, ‘I’m glad, we got it.’ And then I look at Ben. It’s his last day. He says, ‘Nice to meet you. Ben said.
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Elsewhere in the episode, Smith talked about becoming Peter’s character. Emancipation tells the story of Peter Smith, a slave who escaped from a Louisiana plantation in the 1860s.
“I was called the N-word a hundred times a day by very good actors—very good actors,” Smith recalled. “It’s rough. It just twists your mind. You have to be very careful because you definitely twist your mind.”
The Gemini Man actor also revealed a moment when he truly connected with his character.
Will Smith plays an enslaved man in Emancipation.
(Getty Images)
“As an actor, there are moments of magic that you look for,” Smith explained. “The best way I can describe it is that it feels like the character has taken over you. It’s going to be the wardrobe. It’s going to be the scene. It’s going to be the dialect, it’s going to be something. What’s up, we’re We were wearing yin chains.
The episode cuts to behind-the-scenes footage of Smith talking about wearing necklace chains in the wardrobe.
“He goes to take it off, but it’s not working. So it’s locked and my heart is pounding. And I’m like, ‘Oh no. No.’ So I’m sitting there, and he’s running around looking for the keys. And I’m stuck on the chain for 15 minutes and my heart is pounding.
“I’m like, ‘Will, don’t be embarrassed.’ And I’m sitting there, and then I’m like, “I got it.” It’s like I’m like Will Smith, people are looking for keys, my heart is still beating, I’m still scared. “Imagine what it must have been like for Peter to wear those things barefoot and nobody cared.”
Smith said the moment left him “embarrassed”.
“I couldn’t explain why, but I felt embarrassed. I was embarrassed when I was standing there and I was waiting. All of this was debilitating and I was like, ‘I got it.'”
Will Smith has opened up about the ‘inhuman’ moment on the set of ‘Emancipation’.
(AppleTV+/EPKTV)
Six Degrees of Separation is the only other film in which Smith has said he “got lost” and “went too far” as an actor.
“I wouldn’t say ‘I went too far’ with Peter. I didn’t know how far I went. I got a little twisted there.”
The actor explained what he meant by “going too far” with the character.
“You get into a situation. And if you take that one click too far, Will Smith disappears. And then what happens psychologically is you get further and further away from Peter, and you don’t notice that ‘you’ are slipping away.” And then it’s all over, you go back and look for you and leave.”
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Smith says it’s difficult to explain before another attempt.
“You play these characters, and when you play them long enough, it’s like moving to a different country and speaking a different language,” he added. “If you speak another language long enough, you start to lose your mother tongue. You can forget how you walked, your previous personality, and you know, when the actors go over that edge – you can see with touch. It’s spontaneous.” q edge.
“It’s scary. It’s scary out there. Peter is as far as I’ve ever been with a character, and you really have to train yourself to go farther and farther and farther.”
Smith says it’s “lucky” to be on that “edge” while shooting a scene.
Will Smith punches comedian Chris Rock on stage while presenting the award for best documentary at the Oscars on March 27, 2022.
(Chris Pizzello)
Emancipation is Smith’s first film since the 2022 Oscar controversy. The film was released in theaters on December 9.
The actor was banned from attending any Academy Awards for the next 10 years after the comedian punched Chris Rock while he was presenting the award during the ceremony.
Will Smith won the Academy Award for Best Actor shortly after beating Chris Rock.
(Getty Images)
Despite his behavior, Smith won an Oscar for Best Actor for his role in King Richard.