Hollywood star Will Smith plays a slave who flees Louisiana Plantation and embarks on a journey to reunite with his family in a new trailer for Apple TV+ drama Emancipation.
The film, based on the true story of “Knocked Peter” from 1863 that was taken during a Union Army medical examination, will debut on the streaming platform on December 9.
It’s Smith’s first major project since he stormed onto the stage at this year’s Academy Awards and punched comedian Chris Rock after a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith and hair loss due to the medical condition alopecia.
Smith, 54, was banned from all Academy events or programs for 10 years after his “unprecedented” behavior at the 94th Academy Awards.
He apologized to Rock about the infamous blow three months after the incident in a five-minute video on Instagram.
Apple TV+ released an official teaser on Monday of the drama that tells the triumphant story of Peter, played by Smith, who escapes slavery and evades hunters on his quest for freedom.
In the film, directed by Antoine Fuqua, Smith wades through the Louisiana swamp while dodging cannon shots and gunfire.
He says: “I will not be afraid, what can an ordinary man do to me. My family is with me forever.
“I will look triumphant to my enemies.”
In April of last year, Smith and Fuqua, who are both acting as producers, withdrew production of the Hollywood blockbuster from Georgia due to the state’s recently passed law restricting access to votes.
The film is the largest and most high-profile Hollywood production to leave the state since Georgia’s Republican-controlled state legislature passed a law introducing stricter voter identification requirements for absentee votes.
In a joint statement issued at the time, Smith and Fuqua said they felt compelled to move production out of Georgia.
“We cannot in good faith give economic support to a government that enacts regressive voting laws designed to restrict voter access.
“Georgia’s new voting laws are reminiscent of voting barriers passed at the end of Reconstruction to prevent many Americans from voting,” they said.