Emancipation Co-Star Charmaine Bingwa Says Will Smith Committed Hard To The Film

Emancipation star Charmaine Bingwa has shared tales of Will Smith’s commitment to the film. In an interview with PEOPLE, Charmaine said that she did not recognize Will the first time she met him on set. 

“When I first saw Will, he was so thin,” she said of the father of three who had lost a lot of weight to be able to play his role as Peter, a man running from slave hunters. 

As Peter journeyed through Louisiana toward freedom, beside him was Dodienne, played by Charmaine. According to the 38-year-old actress, Will’s transformation, dedication, and natural leadership skills inspired her and other co-stars to give all they had to see the historic story come to life.

“There was an environment of, ‘Let’s dig deep for this one.’ And so I think me and Will were both working from that space and just giving it our all,” she recalled.

The actress who first broke out playing the role of lawyer Carmen Moyo in the last two seasons of The Good Fight further commended the Hitch star for his soul, which she described as “encouraging” and “beautiful.” 

For her, Will’s assumption of responsibility and concerns that his infamous Oscar slap fallout would negatively affect the film’s performance shows how selfless he is. 

She added in her interview that hearing Will repeatedly say that he doesn’t want his team to be punished for his past actions “speaks to his generosity that he’s willing to take whatever hits on the shoulder.”

Charmaine has always had good words to say about Will. In conversations with PEOPLE at the premiere of their film Emancipation in L.A., she also had nothing but praise for the 51-year-old along with co-star Ben Foster.

“He’s very generous and I like to work with actors who, when you look in their eyes, you can kind of see the world in their eyes, and he has that,” she said of the Gemini Man actor. She also shared that it was very easy to be connected to him on screen.

“I think the whole world loves him,” she declared, regardless of the criticisms the actor has received in the wake of the Oscar slap.

Foster, who played the role of a ruthless hunter of enslaved runways in the film, had no words to describe Smith’s acting prowess. “Some people just have the thing,” he stated.The 42-year-old star noted that he watched Will go deeper for Emancipation than he has ever seen anyone go before. He also revealed that he felt honored to work with Will, who he believes did “some of the finest work” of his career with his latest film.