Will Smith says 'Emancipation' co-star didn’t 'acknowledge' him for months on set

Will Smith talked about how his Emancipation co-star Ben Foster ignored him on the film set for six months.

The King Richard star said the Medieval actor snubbed him on first day at shoot and did not ‘acknowledge’ him till their last day on set to stay in character.

Discussing the historical action movie on Red Table Talk, Smith said he has a lot of respect for Foster, who plays the antagonist in the movie.

“Ben just walked past me and didn’t say nothing,” Smith said. “I was like, ‘Oh, he must not have seen me.’ And then for six months he didn’t speak to me, he didn’t make eye contact with me, he didn’t say a word.”

“He didn’t acknowledge me for six months,” Smith added. “But what he did that first day, I was like, ‘Yup, got it.’ We’re not playing. This is real. This is serious. We’re not fooling around with these ideas. I really credit Ben for clicking me into the next gear of depth and focus.”

On the final day of shoot, Foster interacted with Smith as he came over and introduced himself after director Antoine Fuqua approved their scenes.

“I look over at Ben, it’s the last day, and he [extends his hand] and says, ‘Nice to meet you,’” Smith recalled.

“We had been through that whole movie together," he continued, "and the whole time he wasn’t going to his trailer, he was staying in his character tent all day long and he had all his stuff in his character tent.”