on a lead role in Christopher Nolan’s 2010 psychological thriller hit Inception, people are starting to shed light on Will Smith’s successful roles that he has taken up, namely, his role in Emancipation. Smith stars as Peter, with supporting roles from Ben Foster as Fassel and Charmaine Bingwa as Dodienne.

The historical action thriller follows Peter, “a runaway slave trekking through the swamps of Louisiana on a journey to escape the plantation owners who nearly killed him.” The feature started streaming on Apple TV+ on December 2, 2022, and is one of the most popular films globally on the platform at the moment. Though critics and audiences alike seemed to be disappointed, as the film received both “rotten scores” from the categories on Rotten Tomatoes, 45% from critics and 58% from audiences. Smith even seems to have his own criticisms of his performance in the film, saying during a discussion with Kevin Hart in 2023 that “he believes he went ‘too far’ while filming Emancipation, which included putting chains around his neck.” Antoine Fuqua directed the period feature with a script from Bill Collage. Fuqua is known for his films such as Training Day (2001), Southpaw (2015), and The Equalizer trilogy (2014-2023). Collage’s most recent work is the script for Sleeping Dogs in 2024, an action thriller that stars Russell Crowe.

One other successful role that Smith took is also coming to streaming soon. I, Robot, a film that follows “a technophobic cop who finds himself entangled in a complicated situation with an android who has developed human feelings.” Smith stars as the biased cop with supporting roles from Bridget Moynahan, Bruce Greenwood, and James Cromwell. The film will begin streaming on July 1st.