Ben Foster didn't speak to Will Smith until final day of filming Emancipation

Ben Foster didn't acknowledge Will Smith for the duration of the Emancipation shoot.

In the film, the King Richard actor plays a slave named Peter who escapes from a Louisiana plantation after nearly being whipped to death, while Foster takes on the role of slave-catcher Jim Fassel.

During a discussion with his children Willow, Jaden, and Trey for their Facebook Watch series, Red Table Talk, Smith revealed that the Hell or High Water star went completely method for the entire six-month production.

"Ben just walked past me and didn't say nothing," he recalled of the first day on set. "I thought, '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. 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.'"

However, Foster made a point of joining Smith and director Antoine Fuqua by one of the monitors on the final day of the shoot.

"He never came over to the monitor ever, so I'm (thinking this is strange). He comes to the monitor, he watches the shot, and Antoine said, 'I'm happy. We got it.' And then I look over at Ben, it's his last day, he says, 'Nice to meet you!'" the 54-year-old continued.

Emancipation is now available to stream via Apple TV+.