The Hollywood awards season reunites with one of its protagonists: Will Smith accepted the Beacon Award at the African American Film Critics Association Awards on Wednesday night. This is his first in-person appearance in such a ceremony since he slapped Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars last year.
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Will Smith, Hannah Beachler
"Emancipation" co-star Charmaine Bingwa along with Gil L. Robertson of AAFCA introduced the presence of the film's actor and director Antoine Fuqua. After the introductions, as reported by Variety, Smith took the floor.
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Will Smith, Charmaine Bingwa
The actor said "Emancipation" was "the most difficult film" of his career. "Only exterior shooting, it was all true," he added, eliciting laughter from the audience, as Variety writes.
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Will Smith, Courtney B. Vance, Angela Bassett
"It was the second day of shooting and it was 43 degrees and in one scene one of the actors decided, without warning me beforehand, to spit on me. My colleague liked improvisation. We repeated everything the same. In the distance then I heard a voice, it was the director who said: 'Let's do another one, but without spitting'. And at that moment I understood that God existed."
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Will Smith, Courtney B. Vance, Angela Bassett