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The discreet return of Will Smith to the red carpet after the Oscar slap

2022-12-07T11:09:35.696Z


The actor has been preparing the ground for months to undertake the promotion of his new film, 'Emancipation', which opens next Friday on Apple TV +


Eight months after unleashing the scandal by slapping comedian Chris Rock during the last Oscars, Will Smith is back.

The actor, who won the best actor award for his role in

The Williams Method at the same ceremony,

has been preparing the ground for his return for weeks, coinciding with the launch of his new film,

Emancipation,

the great bet of Apple TV + for next awards season.

Before the controversy, Smith was the main mast of the platform in this campaign, but his behavior that day has lowered expectations.

Even if he were nominated, he would not be able to attend the Oscars, as the Hollywood Academy has prohibited him from attending any of his acts for a decade.

More information

Doctor Will and Mr Smith: how a slap ended the career of the perfect star

Released last weekend in some theaters in the United States (a necessary requirement for it to aspire to the awards),

Emancipation

is Smith's first film after the March controversy.

The film, directed by Antoine Fuqua, is based on the true story of a slave who flees a plantation in 19th-century Louisiana to reunite with his family.

Smith plays the protagonist, named Gordon, although he went down in history as

Peter Whipped.

The portrait of his lacerated back from the whipping wounds went around the world in 1863, helping to illustrate the cruelty of the system that President Abraham Lincoln abolished.

The image was taken at a Union camp in Baton Rouge, where he had come to join the ranks after hearing that the Republican president had decreed the freedom of blacks.

The film has already experienced a first controversy on the red carpet of its premiere in Los Angeles.

Producer Joey McFarland brought the original print of the famous photograph for the occasion.

“I wanted a piece of Peter to be here tonight,” McFarland explained.

The gesture was not well received on social networks and some African-American activists were very critical.

“Do you own slavery-related souvenirs?

Why do you take the photograph to a premiere if you want to keep it with great care?", the filmmaker Franklin Leonard rebuked him on Twitter.

McFarland has apologized to those offended.

"I hope my actions do not distract from the message of the tape, Peter's story and the impact he had on the world," the producer wrote on Instagram.

01:54

Trailer for 'Emancipation'

A still from 'Emancipation', Will Smith's new film, which premieres on Apple TV+Photo: QUANTRELL COLBERT (AP) |

Video: APPLE TV+

Emancipation

will premiere next Friday on Apple TV +.

For months, the conversation in Hollywood has been what the technology company would do with the hot potato it had in its hands, for which it has paid 115 million euros.

Many assumed that the release would be pushed back to 2023, when the slap will be a distant memory.

But the company has decided to maintain its commitment in the hope that it will follow in the footsteps of

CODA,

which in the last edition won the first Oscar for best film for a

streaming

platform .

Smith arranged a private screening in October.

Some of the most powerful and influential African Americans in Hollywood turned out.

There were Rihanna, rapper A$AP Rocky, comedian Dave Chappelle, filmmaker Tyler Perry and designer Fawn, among others.

But Smith saved his best publicity stunt for later.

He chose his friend South African comedian Trevor Noah to give his first major television interview after the controversy.

It was on November 29 on

The Daily Show,

the

talk show

that Noah presents on Comedy Central.

Twenty minutes in prime time.

During the talk, Smith was forced to talk about the fateful evening of the slap.

"That was an anger that had been bottled up for a long time," Smith said of what happened at the Oscars, which he described as a "horrible night in which he lost his temper."

The actor assured that when he heard Rock's joke about his wife, several things stirred inside him.

“There were many things.

It was the little boy watching his father beat his mother, you know?

All of that came to a boil at that moment.

He is not who I want to be,” Smith said.

Although he admitted that his emotions did not justify his actions, for which he has apologized on other occasions, Smith assured that "he was having a bad time that night."

And he remembered that 'injured people harm others'.

Smith spent most of the conversation wiping away her tears with a small tissue.

His host spent several minutes talking about redemption and love.

In August, Noah called the reaction to the slap over the top.

“I was amazed at how many people immediately said, 'Will Smith is human trash, he's the worst and he should be in jail,'” he told

Variety

magazine .

Smith assured him that the most difficult thing in these eight months had been to forgive himself "for being human."

The interpreter knows that there are people who have not forgiven him, so he does not rule out that many do not want to see his new film or even call for a boycott.

"I absolutely respect him and I think that these people have to be given their space," he said last week in a brief interview with Good Day DC.

“But what worries me the most is my crew…they've done the best job of their entire career on this film.

I hope my actions don't punish them," he implored to the cameras.

Source: elparis

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