Will Smith is to team up with Antoine Fuqua to tackle the slavery drama ‘Emancipation’ for Westbrook Studios and McFarland Entertainment.
The project will be based on the true story of Peter, a runaway slave forced to outwit cold-blooded hunters and the punishing Louisiana swamp on a tortuous journey to the Union Army and his only chance at freedom.
William N. Collage penned the script to the project which Smith will star in and Fuqua will take the helm.
Smith, James Lassiter and Jon Mone will produce through Westbrook Studios, along with McFarland Entertainment’s Joey McFarland and Escape Artists’ Todd Black. Fuqua will executive produce under his Fuqua Films banner, alongside Cliff Roberts.
Smith, who was last seen in ‘Bad Boys For Life’, was in the middle of filming Warner Bros. ‘King Richard’ a biopic on the father of tennis icons Venus and Serena Williams as production was halted due to COVID-19. He also previously lent his voice to the pigeon spy Lance in animation ‘Spies in Disguise’ and starred as his younger and older self in ‘Gemini Man’.
Fuqua’s latest works include the documentaries ‘What’s My Name: Muhammad Ali’ and ‘American Dream/American Knightmare’. He also directed Denzel Washington in ‘The Equalizer 2’.
Production is expected to commence early in 2021.
