UPDATE: Georgia exit for Liberation is now official. Said Will Smith and director Antoine Fuqua: ‘At this moment, the Nation is coming to its senses, trying to remove remnants of institutional racism in order to bring about true racial justice. We cannot in good conscience provide economic support to a government that enforces regressive voting laws designed to restrict voter access. The new voting laws in Georgia are reminiscent of the voting barriers adopted at the end of the Reconstruction to prevent many Americans from voting. Unfortunately, we feel compelled to move our film production work from Georgia to another state. You can read the version at the bottom of the original review.
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EXCLUSIVE, 05:45, PST: Apple’s runaway slave thriller Liberation today, his plan to shoot in Georgia will change due to the controversial restrictive election law signed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. I heard that the film – Antoine Fuqua director Will Smith from a William N. Collage screenplay – would probably rather shoot in Louisiana, where the real events of the thriller took place. The move will cost production somewhere in the region of $ 15 million, due to the loss of lucrative tax cuts that made Georgia such a busy manufacturing center in the US.
This pending move comes after weeks of talks between filmmakers and film officials in Georgia and Louisiana, and with political leaders in Georgia such as Stacey Abrams. Along with Tyler Perry and some others, Abrams called on Hollywood not to uproot his productions in response to the adoption of a restrictive election law that followed President Joe Biden’s election victory. Liberation will probably not predict an exodus from Georgia. This is a special case, where the optical shooting in Georgia would be difficult, given the topic. Wearing the famous peach symbol on this Apple movie can undermine the power of the subject of the movie.
Smith will play Peter, a slave who fled a plantation in Louisiana after being swept within an inch of his life. He had to outwit cold-blooded hunters and the unforgivable swamps of Louisiana on a torturous journey North. There he joined the Union Army. The thriller is based on its true story, burned into the annals of history by an indelible image; when Peter showed his bare back during a medical examination of the army, photos were taken of the scars of a whip delivered by an overseer on the plantation owned by John and Bridget Lyons that nearly killed him. When the photo – known as ‘the scourged back’ – was published by the Independent in May 1863, and then in the July 4 issue of Harper’s Weekly, it became an indisputable proof of the cruelty and barbarity of slavery in America. The photo was reached around the world. It captured the cause of abolitionists and encouraged many free Blacks to join the Union Army.
Apple bought the film package last June in fierce competition and beat Warner Bros. in a deal that includes about $ 130 million, including the purchase of the end. This is a passionate project for Smith and Fuqua, the agreement that took place in the aftermath of the George Floyd assassination that sparked Black Lives Matter protests nationwide.
“It was the first viral image of the brutality of slavery that the world has seen,” Fuqua told me last year. ‘Which is interesting when you put it back into perspective with today and social media and what the world sees. You can not correct the past, but you can remind people of the past, and I think we need to do it in an accurate, correct way. We all need to look for a better future for all of us and everyone. This is one of the most important reasons to do things now is to show our history. We must face our truth before we can move forward. ”
The Liberation agreement set a record for a festival purchase. While another deadline recently broke, Netflix acquired two Knives out sequels for more than $ 400 million have become the biggest streamer deal of all time, Liberation remains a rich package. The filmmakers and Apple got a kick out of the optics of shooting the expensive messages in Georgia, after the state responded from the red to the blue in the presidential election by introducing restrictive election laws. These include stricter ID rules for absentee ballots, restricting the use of compartments, empowering State Election Board officials to dominate local boards and making it an offense to offer voters in-line food or water. Critics have hailed it as an attempt to make the voices of blacks and other minority residents in Georgia more difficult, all in response to unfounded allegations by President Donald Trump that the election was stolen from him.
Stay tuned.
FUQUA FILMS AND WESTBROOK INC. WITHDRAWS FILM PRODUCTION OF “EMANSIPATION” FROM STATE OF GEORGIA FOR NEW VOTING RESTRICTIONS
DATE: April 12, 2021
Director / producer Antoine Fuqua and his Fuqua Films and actor / producer Will Smith and his media company Westbrook Inc. has decided to move production of their upcoming film EMANCIPATION from the state of Georgia due to the newly imposed voting restrictions adopted by the state legislature and signed by the Governor.
Fuqua and Smith said: ‘At this moment, the Nation is coming to terms with its history and trying to eliminate the remnants of institutional racism in order to bring about true racial justice. We cannot in good conscience provide economic support to a government that enforces regressive voting laws designed to restrict voter access. The new voting laws in Georgia are reminiscent of the voting barriers that were passed at the end of the Reconstruction to prevent many Americans from voting. Unfortunately, we feel compelled to move our film production work from Georgia to another state. ”
Fuqua named Denzel Washington the Lead Actor Award for Training Day and he earned an Emmy in 2020 for his film Muhammad Ali: What’s My Name. His recent film projects include directing The Equalizer, Equalizer 2, and as executive producer of the television series The Resident.
Emancipation would begin filming on June 21, 2021. This will star Smith. Fuqua will direct.
The film, based on a screenplay by William N. Collage, will portray Smith as Peter, a refugee from slavery on a moving journey north of Louisiana. The character ‘Whipped Peter’, was a slave who freed himself from a southern plantation and joined the Union Army. In 1863, photos of Peter appeared during a medical examination for the first time in the July 4 issue of Harper’s Weekly. One image, known as ‘The Scourged Back’, shows Peter’s bald back, mutilated by a whiplash on the plantation of slaves John and Bridget Lyons.