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With the recent addition of stricter laws for voters in Georgia, Will Smith and Antoine Fuqua have decided to halt production plans of their upcoming project. They are not the only ones pulling or considering pulling business out of Georgia due to the voting laws that were recently signed and put into place. The new laws continue to be called out for being targeted at Black, Brown and underserved voting communities and include having to provide multiple forms of ID when voting absentee, as well as votes being tossed out should they be submitted to the wrong precinct, in addition to it now being illegal to offer refreshments to people waiting in long lines. By the way this isn't the complete list of tighter restrictions.
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Fuqua and Smith's film Emancipation, a slave drama, was apparently set to start production in June, with Fuqua directing/producing the film, while Will Smith is set to star in the project as well as coming on as a producer. They released a joint statement saying, “We cannot in good conscience provide economic support to a government that enacts regressive voting laws that are designed to restrict voter access. The new Georgia voting laws are reminiscent of voting impediments that were passed at the end of Reconstruction to prevent many Americans from voting. Regrettably, we feel compelled to move our film production work from Georgia to another state.”
Production of the film is reportedly still going to take place and apparently now moving to Louisiana where the story originally took place.