Apple has debuted an intense new trailer for Emancipation, the slavery drama starring Will Smith in his first major role post-Oscars slap.
The latest look at the Antoine Fuqua-directed film stars Smith as an enslaved man on his journey to freedom, hiding from slavers in the swamps of Louisiana and facing off against an alligator along the way. It all leads up to Smith’s Peter fighting in the Union army, hoping to be reunited with his family. “I fight them, they beat me. They whip me. They break the bones in my body more times than I can count,” he says as the trailer reaches its conclusion. “But they never, never break me.”
Emancipation is inspired by the 1863 photos of the slve “Whipped Peter,” which showcased the mutilation one Black man faced after he was whipped by his enslavers. The photograph was considered a landmark moment in the Civil War, and was circulated widely by the abolitionist movement.
The movie finished production prior to the Oscars drama earlier this year, and earlier this month, director Fuqua opened up about whether the incident impacted the release plans. He said that there was “never a conversation” with his producers or Apple about delaying the project.
“It was more about, ‘We’re assessing everything. We’re seeing what people are saying.’ They were very careful about it,” he told Vanity Fair. “My conversation was always, ‘Isn’t 400 years of slavery, of brutality, more important than one bad moment?’ We were in Hollywood, and there’s been some really ugly things that have taken place, and we’ve seen a lot of people get awards that have done some really nasty things.”
The cast of the William N. Collage-penned film is rounded out by Ben Foster, Steven ogg, and Charmaine Bingwa among others.
Emancipation arrives in select theaters on December 2, 2022, and debuts on Apple TV+ on Dec. 9.
Watch the trailer up top.
