LOS ANGELES – Antoine Fuqua and Will Smith will move production of their big budget, runaway slave thriller “Emancipation” out of Georgia in protest at the state’s controversial new voting restrictions.
The announcement continues the economic fallout of Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican, and the GOP-controlled state legislature’s decision to pass new regulations that will enforce critics, representing voter suppression aimed at reducing the turnout of people of color. The new laws were passed in the wake of former President Donald Trump’s baseless allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, and after Georgia voted for a Democrat as president for the first time in decades.
The rules shorten the duration of absenteeism, require absentee voters to identify themselves, limit the use of drop boxes, and make it a crime to hand out free food or water to voters standing in line.
“Right now, the nation is coming to terms with its history and trying to eliminate remnants of institutional racism to achieve true racial justice,” Fuqua, the film’s director, and Smith said in a joint statement. “We cannot in good conscience provide economic support to a government that enacts regressive voting laws designed to restrict voter access. that many Americans vote. Unfortunately, we feel compelled to move our film production operations from Georgia to another state. “
In “Emancipation,” which was scheduled to begin filming June 21, Smith stars as Peter, a fugitive from slavery who flees Louisiana in hopes of traveling north to freedom. Fuqua will direct from a script by William N. Collage.
Fuqua Films and Westbrook Inc., Smith’s media company, are backing the film, which has been sold to Apple Studios in a deal reportedly valued at $ 120 million. It’s unclear where production will go and whether Smith and Fuqua’s decision will pressure other Hollywood players to stop filming in Georgia. The Peach State has become a major production hub in recent years, with the likes of Tyler Perry and Marvel setting up major film and television shoots in Georgia for its generous incentives.
Some media companies such as ViacomCBS and AT&T have criticized the restrictions, while others remain silent. Top talent was more outspoken. Filmmakers like James Mangold and actors like Mark Hamill have vowed to boycott film and television production in Georgia as long as the new voting law is in effect.
In the wake of the new voting restrictions, major Georgia-based companies such as Delta and Coca-Cola have condemned the law, and Major League Baseball chose to move the All-Star Game out of Atlanta. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier, Starbucks Chairman Mellody Hobson, AMC Chef Adam Aron and former American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault are urging top chefs to engage in a public print campaign on the state because of its legislation.
“Emancipation” is based on a true story. Smith’s character “Whipped Peter” was an enslaved person who emancipated himself from a southern plantation and joined the Union army. In 1863, photos of Peter during an Army medical examination first appeared in Harper’s Weekly. Known as “The Whipped Back,” one image shows Peter’s bare back, torn apart by a whiplash that he received on the plantation where he was enslaved. That image perfectly captured the cruelty of slavery and inspired free black people to volunteer and fight for the Union.