Will Smith pulls film production from Georgia to protest voting restrictions
Oscar nominee Will Smith and Oscar-winning director Antoine Fuqua have pulled production of their runaway slave drama “Emancipation” from Georgia over the state’s recently enacted law restricting voting access.
“We cannot in good conscience provide economic support to a government that enacts regressive voting laws that are designed to restrict voter access,” co-producers Smith and Fuqua said. “The new Georgia voting laws are reminiscent of voting impediments that were passed at the end of Reconstruction to prevent many Americans from voting.”
The new law requires voters to produce identification when voting absentee, limits ballot drop boxes, tosses ballots cast at the wrong precincts, gives partisan local lawmakers more control over recounts and makes it a crime to hand out free food or water to voters standing in lines.
“Emancipation” had been scheduled to begin shooting in June. Apple Studios acquired the film last year in a deal reportedly worth $130 million. Based on a true story, the film stars Smith as a slave who flees a Louisiana plantation and joins the Union Army.
Hollywood’s response to the Georgia law is being closely watched because the state is a major hub of film production and boasts generous tax incentives. Some filmmakers have said they would boycott the state, including “Ford v Ferrari” director James Mangold. But major studios have so far been largely quiet. In 2019, a Georgia anti-abortion law (later declared unconstitutional) prompted studios to threaten to cease production in the state.
With News Wire Services
