Will Smith leaves the state of Georgia due to electoral restrictions

Will Smith and director Antoine Fuqua withdrew from Georgia the production of their drama about a runaway slave “Emancipation” by the recently passed state election law restricting access to voting.

The film is Hollywood’s largest and most prominent production to leave the state since the Republican-controlled state legislature passed the law that introduced stricter election identification requirements to cast votes in absentia, limited the number of ballot boxes and gave the State Electoral Board new powers to intervene in county election offices and remove and replace local election authorities. Opponents of the law say it is designed to impact minority voting.

In a joint statement, Smith and Fuqua – who are producers of the project – said they felt committed to withdrawing production from Georgia.

“We cannot give financial support with a clear conscience to a government that passes regressive electoral laws that are designed to restrict voter access,” Smith and Fuqua said. “Georgia’s new election laws are reminiscent of the electoral impediments that were passed at the end of Reconstruction to prevent many Americans from voting.”

“Emancipation” was about to begin filming in June. Apple Studios acquired the film last year in a sensible that reportedly reached $ 130 million. Based on a true story, the film stars Smith as a slave who escapes from a Louisiana plantation and joins the Union Army.

Hollywood’s response to Georgia law has been closely followed because the state is a major center of film production and boasts of its generous tax incentives. Some filmmakers have said they will boycott the law, including director of “Ford v. Ferrari” (“Against the Impossible”) James Mangold. But large studios have been mostly silent. In 2019, an anti-abortion law in Georgia (which was eventually declared unconstitutional) led to studies threatening to stop producing in the state.