Will Smith names the hardest role of his career: “Without question”
Across three decades as one of Hollywood’s most popular leading men, Will Smith has taken on a number of challenging roles. After breaking out as a legitimately transcendent entertainer with success in music, TV, and then blockbuster films, Smith branched out into more emotionally and physically challenging roles as his career developed. However, there is only one role that Smith has named the hardest of his career, and it came along at a point when he was also going through a very publicly troubled period in his personal life.
In 2021, Smith starred as Richard Williams, the domineering father of tennis superstars Venus and Serena, in King Richard. The film was reviewed extremely strongly, and he was nominated for ‘Best Actor’ at the Academy Awards. The role seemed to cap off a late-period comeback for the superstar, whose career had dwindled in commercial and critical success in the late 2010s. Indeed, with this nomination, industry insiders tipped Smith to finally take home that sought-after Oscar, having lost out twice before for 2001’s Ali and 2006’s The Pursuit of Happyness.
Smith did win his coveted prize on the night, of course, but unfortunately, his triumph was overshadowed by an unsavoury incident. When host Chris Rock made a poor-taste joke at Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett’s expense, the star walked up on stage and slapped the comedian in the face. The audience in attendance was stunned, as was everyone watching at home, and for months afterwards, “the slap” was all anyone could talk about from the controversial ceremony.
Suddenly, Smith’s squeaky-clean public image was dealt a hammer blow, and he went on the defensive for much of the year. In the midst of the controversy, though, there was the not-insignificant matter of Smith’s next film, which he had already shot before the slap heard around the world. In fact, it was a film that Smith declared the hardest role of his career, as it dealt with a subject he had studiously avoided on his ascent to the top of Hollywood: slavery.
Emancipation, an AppleTV+ historical action thriller directed by Antoine Fuqua, was a film Smith had been reluctant to commit to. Smith told Film Ink, “I never wanted to make a period film about slavery. I’ve avoided those roles my whole career.”
He explained to Complex, “I didn’t want to show Black folks in that light.”
To his surprise, though, Smith was won over by Fuqua’s vision for the film, which framed the story as a chase thriller and refused to be defined by degradation and cruelty. Instead, Smith believed, “Antoine didn’t make a movie about slavery. It’s a movie about freedom; it’s a movie about love; it’s a movie about family; it’s a movie about faith; it’s a movie about endurance and gratitude; and it’s a movie about the power of the spirit of the African-American.”
Despite both Smith and Fuqua’s dedication to making a movie that would be inspiring, the shoot was still extremely difficult for both. Smith’s “whipped Peter” – a character based on a harrowing photo from 1863 showing a slave’s mottled, scarred back from repeated whippings – is in nearly every frame of the film. He experiences every indignity and evil that man has to offer over the course of the story and is also at the mercy of the elements as he tries to stay ahead of the ruthless bounty hunter chasing him.
Smith confessed, “Without question, this was the hardest film of my career. It was searing hot; a hurricane tore down our sets; I was in the swamp every day. But when you’re telling a true story like this, there’s a huge energy you get from the meaningful purpose of sharing an incredible human life with others.”
Ultimately, Smith’s real-life transgressions likely played a part in the film’s muted reception upon release. However, some blame may also be reserved for Apple’s inability to generate buzz for its streaming movies. Either way, Smith’s performance was widely praised by most critics, even if the movie itself wasn’t quite so highly though of.
Smith was left with pangs of guilt and regret over the movie because his actions overshadowed the work of many fine artists. He told Fox 5, “My deepest concern is my team. The people on this team have done some of the best work of their entire careers, and my deepest hope is that my actions don’t penalise my team.”
In truth, it all simply made the hardest role of his career even harder.
