Mustafa Shakir, Ben Foster, Charmaine Bingwa, and Gilbert Owuor join Antoine Fuqua’s ‘Emancipation’
Variety is reporting that Mustafa Shakir, Ben Foster, Charmaine Bingwa, and Gilbert Owuor have joined the cast of Antoine Fuqua’s upcoming thriller “Emancipation,” starring Will Smith.
Smith stars as Peter, a runaway slave who flees Louisiana in hopes of traveling north to freedom. “Emancipation” is inspired by the true story of “Whipped Peter,” an enslaved person who emancipated himself from a southern plantation and joined the Union Army. In 1863, photos taken of Peter during an Army medical examination first appeared in Harper’s Weekly. One image, known as “The Scourged Back,” shows the scars from a whipping on Peter’s bare back, illustrating the true cruelty of slavery and ultimately contributed to growing public opposition.
Fuqua will direct from a script by William N. Collage. Fuqua Films and Smith’s media company Westbrook Inc. are backing the project, which sold to Apple Studios for a reported $120 million.
Foster stars opposite Smith, playing Fassel, a man who doggedly pursues any enslaved person who attempts to flee to freedom, including Peter. Bingwa appears as Peter’s beloved wife Dodienne. Owuor plays Gordon, an enslaved man working at the same camp as Peter, while Shakir is Cailloux, a free Black man who also serves in the Union Army.
Smith, James Lassiter and Jon Mone will produce “Emancipation” through Westbrook Studios, along with McFarland Entertainment’s Joey McFarland and Escape Artists’ Todd Black. Fuqua will executive produce under his Fuqua Films banner, alongside Cliff Roberts.
Production began on the project in early July in New Orleans.