Director Antoine Fuqua Thinks ‘Emancipation’ Movie Played a Role in Will Smith and Chris Rock Oscars Slap: I Hope People ‘Forgive’ Him

usmagazine.com:

A different perspective. Emancipation director Antione Fuqua revealed that he thinks the difficult film shoot may have played a role in Will Smith‘s altercation with Chris Rock at the Oscars.“[The moment] didn’t feel real to me at all, because I was with Will for two years and I haven’t met a nicer human being.

I’m being honest about it,” the Training Day director, 56, told Vanity Fair in an interview published on Tuesday, November 15, while talking about the slavery-era drama. “So, 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, really genuinely.”After describing the King Richard star, 53, as the “nicest person I’ve ever met in my life,” Fuqua noted that he also has a great deal of affection for the 57-year-old Everybody Hates Chris alum, which made the incident even more surreal for him. “Chris is a good guy too,” he continued. “I’ve spent time with Chris, and I think it’s an unfortunate event and I hope we can move forward and get past it.”While he emphasized that he didn’t want to make any excuses for Smith — who stars in Emancipation as the slave “Whipped Peter” — the Equalizer director explained that it came after a long, brutal film shoot. “The movie was supposed to end in October, but we didn’t finish that movie until January because of a hurricane, the heat, COVID, a tornado, and 12 other things,” Fuqua said. “It was just crazy, really.

It’s really hard to release a character who’s been brutalized and called the N-word every day — constantly, every day — and still be the nicest person in the world.