For the first time, Will Smith is taking over the Red Table with his three kids to open up about the most grueling and transformative time of his life, making his latest movie, Emancipation. In this deeply intimate and revealing Red Table Talk, Will recounts how, for the first time in his career, he nearly “went too far” and almost “lost himself.” Will shares the most significant revelations of his life, a horrific moment he experienced while filming, and a co-star who refused to speak to him. Trey, Jaden, and Willow ask their father questions about how he recovered from the trauma of playing an emotionally charged character. Plus surprises from director Antoine Fuqua, co-star Ben Foster and Smith’s #1 fan, his mom.
The Emmy® Award-winning series, “Red Table Talk,” is usually hosted by Jada Pinkett Smith, her daughter Willow, a leading voice for her generation, and her mother, Adrienne Banfield Norris. Each episode is shot at the Smith family home, where these three passionate and opinionated women bring their unique perspectives to real issues affecting real people.
At the beginning of this episode, Smith delves into how the movie Emancipation came about. “It all started with an image,” Smith says. The image he refers to is titled “The Scourged Back,” dating back to 1863 during slavery. The picture shows an escaped enslaved man named Peter showing his scarred back at a medical examination in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1863. “I will never forget the first time I saw that picture. It was so moving, and for that to be the first viral image, it’s crazy,” says Willow Smith.
Next, Smith showed the trailer of Emancipation for the audience and his children. After the viewing, he opened up to his children about how grueling the preparation was for the filming process and how he had to prepare to become his character. “You guys have been around for most of my career; as the years go on, I’ve gotten more locked into these characters for longer periods. The weight of this story, and experiences, the quality of the acting…it was emotionally, physically, spiritually, taxing,” Smith says. Reflecting on his journey, he recalled his first day on set. “One of the first days on set, there’s a scene with one of the actors, and he leans down in my face and says, ‘You’re a cold one, ain’t you?’ and then he adlibbed a spitting gesture. I was like, ‘Woah!’ Every actor on this set was taking it seriously,” he says.
Smith also touched on the critics who questioned the purpose of another slave movie. In response, he said, “This is not a slave movie; it’s a freedom movie.” Smith shared that initially, he was considering participating in the 2012 western/drama Django Unchained. “We had a family meeting about it. I wasn’t all the way in, and one of the reasons was because of the looks on your faces because you knew what that would mean because those characters seep back into the house,” he says.
Smith is no stranger to embodying his characters fully. Willow asked him, what does the process look like for you when you take on a character? “You play these characters, and when you play them long enough, it’s like, moving to another country and speaking a different language. If you speak the other language long enough, you’ll start to lose your native tongue,” he says. He revealed that his character, “Peter” in Emancipation, is the furthest he’s ever been from himself. Smith also touched on the emotional anguish he experienced during filming while thinking of his family. “For me, as an actor, I imagined being pulled away. Imagine someone comes in here right now and beats me and snatches me, and you all don’t know if you’ll ever see me again. That’s the legacy of slavery in America; it creates generational trauma,” he shares with his children.
Smith also fielded questions from moviegoers on the episode. When asked, what form of suffering did he have to tap into for this role, he responded, “There’s a universal suffering that we can all connect on. But I don’t know, what I would do in the face of that kind of demonic benevolence,” he says. Willow chimed in, “It’s either you’re enlighted, or it breaks you,” she says.
Smith continued, “I learned from my character Peter the idea of the darkness being the road to the light,” he says.
Emancipation director Antoine Fuqua appeared to speak about Smith’s character and the movie. “When people go see this film, I’m hoping they’ll be inspired and experience the love story and see a film about freedom, faith, and family. As well as a story of strength and perseverance.”
He continued, “The story of Peter is incredible. A man that was a slave but was free in his mind, heart, and spirit.”
Before wrapping the episode, Smith received a message from his biggest fan, his mom. She said, “I just want to tell you what a wonderful movie, Emancipation is. I could’ve believed what a wonderful job you performed because Peter just came right through. You left yourself and became Peter. Will, I know how much hard work and dedication you put into making this movie come to life.”
Will Smith’s Red Table Talk takeover premieres on Facebook Watch on Wednesday, Dec. 14 at 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT.Emancipation is currently streaming on AppleTV+.