Hollywood star Will Smith has canceled plans to shoot a new film in Georgia, the U.S., which enacted a law that raised the voting threshold.
According to the New York Times (NYT), actor Will Smith and director Antoine Fuqua made the announcement in a joint statement. This is the first time that someone has refused to shoot a movie in Georgia, citing the election laws. Georgia has emerged as a Hollywood industrial center, offering generous tax benefits to film production.
“At this moment, the nation is trying to eliminate the remnants of institutional racism in order to achieve true racial justice,” they said.
“We cannot provide economic assistance to a government that enacts regressive voting laws designed to limit voting rights,” he said. “The new voting law in Georgia reminds us of a law passed at the end of the Reconstruction Era to prevent many Americans from voting.”
“I’m afraid we have to move the film from Georgia to another state.”
Produced and supported by Apple Studios, the film is set in the era of slavery. In the film, Smith plays a real-life character named Peter, who fled the southern plantation and joined the Northern Army, claiming the abolition of slavery. Filming was scheduled to begin in Georgia in June.
Recently, a law was passed in Georgia to strengthen identification and postal voting procedures. According to the law, which has even been signed by the Republican-led governor, the dropbox has been drastically reduced, which requires ballot boxes received by mail to be placed in ballot boxes installed throughout the region.” Providing water or food to voters who are not authorized can be punished as a misdemeanor.
The law, which is being pursued not only in Georgia but also in various parts of the United States, has been criticized for making it difficult for people of color to vote mainly for low-income and black people.
Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft President Brad Smith, IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna, Google Senior Vice President Kent Walker, Facebook Citizenship Officer Roy Austin and many corporate representatives said they were against the bill.
Will Smith pulls ‘Emancipation’ from filming in Georgia over Voting Restrictions
Will Smith has canceled plans to shoot a new film in Georgia, the U.S., which enacted a law that raised the voting threshold.