Will Smith Shares Concern About Oscars Slap Tainting His Upcoming Movie 'Emancipation'

Will Smith is worried about how his controversial Oscars moment will impact his upcoming flick, an action thriller titled "Emancipation."

The 54-year-old actor, who got a 10-year ban from the Oscars for slapping Chris Rock on the stage in March, revealed he is worried the audience is going to penalize his team for his actions.

"The only discomfort my heart has around that is that so many people have done spectacular work on this film," Smith told Entertainment Weekly in an interview published Monday. "My hope is that my team isn't penalized at all for my actions."

The "Men in Black" star praised director Antoine Fuqua and cinematographer Robert Richardson for their "spectacular work" on "Emancipation," which is slated to release this Friday in theatres.

"I definitely lose a couple [of] winks of sleep every night thinking that I could have potentially penalized my team, but I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that everyone gets seen in the light that they deserve," Smith added.

"Emancipation" is based on a true story of a slave named Peter, played by Smith, who runs away from a Louisiana plantation after being tortured by the owners.

"I had seen the image of Whipped Peter as a child, but as his story started to come into focus, I was moved in all of the most beautiful ways," Smith said about the 1863 photograph of Peter.

The official handle of the movie shared the photograph on Twitter in 2020.

Smith further explained that after receiving the screenplay of the movie, he knew that he wanted to learn from Peter as after suffering from brutality, "[Peter] was able to sustain faith, gratitude, and love in the face of those kinds of atrocities."

"Emancipation" is slated to release in theatres on Dec. 2 and it will start streaming on Apple TV+ from Dec. 9 onwards. Aside from Smith, the movie also stars Ben Foster, Mustafa Shakir, Steven Ogg, Charmaine Bingwa and Imani Pullum.

Considering Smith's other upcoming projects, the actor will be featured in "The Council" as Nicky Barnes, "Fast and Loose" as John Riley, and he will also reprise Mike Lowrey's character in the fourth installment of "Bad Boys." All these projects are still under pre-production.