Charmaine Bingwa.Photo: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Apple
Arriving in New Orleans to shoot her first studio film,EmancipationstarCharmaine Bingwawas excited to work withWill Smith. But at their first meeting, she did a double take.
InEmancipation, Smith, 54, plays Peter, a man on the run from slave hunters through Louisiana on his journey toward freedom, with Bingwa starring as his wife Dodienne.
“We knew she existed,” says Bingwa, 38, of Peter’s wife. “But a lot of it was for me to fill in the blanks and to color her in, so to speak. I listened to a lot of narratives from enslaved people at that time, particularly women. Women had to do the same amount of physical work as the men, and then they had to come home and run the household, stitch up clothes, make sure the family was catered for, and then had to face sexual advances from their slave owners.”
“I really wanted to make sure that I was able to tell as much of that story and honor Black women who are so often marginalized or forgotten completely,” she adds.
Charmaine Bingwa inEmancipation(2022).Courtesy of Apple
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Bingwa, who first broke out playing no-nonsense lawyer Carmen Moyo on the last two seasons of Paramount+‘sThe Good Fight, says theEmancipationcast gave it their all bringing the historic story 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 recalls, calling Smith “a very encouraging, beautiful soul.”
Despite complications of the filmarriving in the aftermathof Smith’s Oscar slap fallout, “it’s been beautiful to hear Will go out and repeatedly say that, ‘No matter what’s happened, I just don’t want my team to be punished’ " for his actions, she says. “And it speaks to his generosity that he’s willing to take whatever hits on the shoulder, whatever people are saying, but he’s out there for us trying to get this movie seen, and for the people that the movie is about.”
Her first day on the set ofThe Good Fightmarked another pinch-me moment. “I remember walking onto one of the soundstages to do a camera test with Christine Baranski. I’ve admired her for so long, and then to see her in the flesh — she gave me a huge hug and was like, ‘Welcome. This is the show.’ "
Charmaine Bingwa and Christine Baranski inThe Good Fight.Elizabeth Fisher/Paramount+
Today Bingwa, who next stars as a warrior in Fuqua’s upcoming Showtime seriesKing Shaka, hopes to offer audiences the kind of representation she craved as a young girl.
She continues, “And I just hope I can be that for someone else, whether they’re Black, gay or female.”
source: people.com
