Emancipation director Antoine Fuqua will release Will Smith’s movie: Here’s why

Emancipation creator Antoine Fuqua recently spoke up over his decision to release the movie within a year given the lead star Will Smith banned from the Oscars due to his infamous slap-gate incident.

In a latest interview with Vanity Fair, Fuqua revealed that there was never a conversation to postpone the movie while he also called Smith the “nicest person on set”.

“Of course, I wanted people to see the film. My conversation was always, ‘Isn’t 400 years of slavery, of brutality, more important than one bad moment?’ We were in Hollywood, and there’s been some really ugly things that have taken place, and we’ve seen a lot of people get awards that have done some really nasty things,” said the 56-year-old director.

For the unversed, the upcoming movie was filmed before the controversial moment when Smith smacked Chris Rock onstage at the Oscars earlier this year.

Fuqua shared that the “moment Smith hit Rock didn’t feel real to me at all” because he was “kind to everyone on the set of Emancipation”.

“I saw a different person than that one moment in time, and so my reaction was that particular moment is very foreign to me when it comes to Will Smith. I have nothing but amazing things to say about Will Smith. Nicest person I've ever met in my life,” stated the movie-maker.

He added, “I hope that people can forgive him and that we can move forward.”