''Emperor'' is a 2020 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

historical drama A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romance film, romances, adventure f ...

film directed by

Mark Amin Mohammed Mark Amin ( fa, محمد مارک امین) is an Iranian American motion picture producer, distributor and writer who has been working in independent and mainstream cinema for more than two decades. Some of Amin's film credits include ...

(in his

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

) and written by Amin and Pat Charles. The film stars

Dayo Okeniyi Oladayo A. Okeniyi (; born June 14, 1988) is a Nigerian-American actor, popularly known for playing the role of Thresh in ''The Hunger Games'' and Danny Dyson in ''Terminator Genisys''. Life and career Dayo was born in Jos and grew up in Lagos, ...

James Cromwell James Oliver Cromwell (born January 27, 1940) is an American actor and activist. Some of his best-known films include ''Babe'' (1995), '' Star Trek: First Contact'' (1996), ''L.A. Confidential'' (1997), '' The Green Mile'' (1999), ''The Queen'' ...

Kat Graham Katerina Alexandre Hartford Graham (born September 5, 1989) is an American actress, singer and dancer (now distributing music under the stage name Toro Gato). She is widely known for her role as Bonnie Bennett on The CW supernatural drama seri ...

, and

Bruce Dern Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an American actor. He has often played supporting villainous characters of unstable natures. He has received several accolades, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and the Silver B ...

. It is based on the true story of

Shields Green Shields Green (1836? – December 16, 1859), who also referred to himself as "'Emperor"', was, according to Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave from Charleston, South Carolina, and a leader in John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, in October 185 ...

, an African American slave nicknamed "Emperor", who escaped to freedom and participated in

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry.

Plot

In 1859, after the

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

on which Shields "Emperor" Green works in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

, is gambled away by his master, a cruel new

overseer Overseer may refer to: Professions * Supervisor or superintendent; one who keeps watch over and directs the work of others *Plantation overseer, often in the context of forced labor or slavery *Overseer of the poor, an official who administered re ...

tortures Shields and whips his son Tommy. In retaliation, Shields kills the overseer and flees. Shields' wife Sarah is killed during his escape. Shields evades capture on his way north and learns that a

bounty Bounty or bounties commonly refers to: * Bounty (reward), an amount of money or other reward offered by an organization for a specific task done with a person or thing Bounty or bounties may also refer to: Geography * Bounty, Saskatchewan, a g ...

has been placed on his head. His master and neighboring plantation owners hire

bounty hunter A bounty hunter is a private agent working for bail bonds who captures fugitives or criminals for a commission or bounty. The occupation, officially known as bail enforcement agent, or fugitive recovery agent, has traditionally operated outsid ...

Luke McCabe to catch him. Shields is found by Truesdale, who gives him refuge in his house despite his wife Delores' objection; however, the next day, Truesdale turns on him and forces Shields to lock himself in a cage, revealing his intention to wait for the bounty hunters to capture Shields for the reward money. Delores kills Truesdale and frees Shields, who takes the responsibility for the latter's murder. Shields meets up with a young

bank robber Bank robbery is the criminal act of stealing from a bank, specifically while bank employees and customers are subjected to force, violence, or a threat of violence. This refers to robbery of a bank Branch (banking), branch or Bank teller, tell ...

, Rufus Kelly. McCabe and his men pursue them and almost catch them, and Rufus dies from the injuries in the process. Shields takes his gun and looted money and meets up with

Levi Coffin Levi Coffin (October 28, 1798 – September 16, 1877) was an American Quaker, Republican, abolitionist, farmer, businessman and humanitarian. An active leader of the Underground Railroad in Indiana and Ohio, some unofficially called Coffin the " ...

(a real Quaker abolitionist) at his cabin. There, he gives him the money to buy his son's freedom. After McCabe appears, Shields heads to

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

where meets

John Brown John Brown most often refers to: *John Brown (abolitionist) (1800–1859), American who led an anti-slavery raid in Harpers Ferry, Virginia in 1859 John Brown or Johnny Brown may also refer to: Academia * John Brown (educator) (1763–1842), Ir ...

and

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...

, who is preparing the raid at

Harpers Ferry Harpers Ferry is a historic town in Jefferson County, West Virginia. It is located in the lower Shenandoah Valley. The population was 285 at the 2020 census. Situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, where the U.S. stat ...

. Shields agrees to join them to fight for the end of slavery. Shields, Brown and his men take over Harpers Ferry.

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

Colonel Robert E. Lee and his forces retake it and most of Brown's men suffer casualties. As Shields rides away on a horse, McCabe shoots and wounds him. Shields takes refuge at a church, but McCabe and his men track him down. During a gun battle. Shields climbs to the spire, pursued by McCabe, and blows it up as he leaps into a river to make his escape. Coffin buys Tommy's freedom and takes him to Shields. In 1890, his son writes a book about him and takes it to a publisher.

Cast

Naturi Naughton Naturi Cora Maria Naughton (born May 20, 1984) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Naughton is best known as one-third of the Contemporary R&B, R&B group 3LW and for her acting roles in the films ''Fame (2009 film), Fame'' and ''Notor ...

as Sarah Green * Trayce Malachi as Tommy Green *

Keean Johnson Keean Johnson (born c. 1996/1997) is an American actor. Born in Colorado, he played one of the lead roles, Hugo, in the film '' Alita: Battle Angel''. On television, he has starred as Adam Freeman on the show ''Spooksville ''Spooksville'' is ...

as Rufus Kelly *

Ben Robson Ben Robson (born 4 February 1984) is an English actor and model. Early life Robson was born and grew up in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. His father worked in manufacturing. He has one younger brother and one younger sister. His sister works as ...

as Luke McCabe *

Harry Lennix Harry Joseph Lennix III (born November 16, 1964) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Terrence "Dresser" Williams in the Robert Townsend film ''The Five Heartbeats'' (1991) and as Boyd Langton in the science-fiction series ''Dollh ...

* James Le Gros as Robert E. Lee *

Paul Scheer Paul Christian Scheer (born January 31, 1976) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, director, and podcaster. Scheer is a SAG award-winning actor known for his roles in Showtime's comedy series ''Black Monday'' and FX/ FXX's ''The L ...

as Duvane Henderson *

M. C. Gainey Michael Connor Gainey (born January 18, 1948) is an American character actor best known for his appearances in ''Lost'', ''Con Air'', ''Sideways'', ''Tangled'', and ''Django Unchained''. Early life Gainey was born in Jackson, Mississippi. In the ...

as Randolph Stevens * Nicholas Logan as Gunther Bowman *

as Delores *

Mykelti Williamson Mykelti Williamson (born March 4, 1957) is an American actor best known for his roles in the films ''Forrest Gump'', ''Con Air'' and ''Ali'', and the television shows ''Boomtown'', '' 24'', and '' Justified''. In 2016, he portrayed Gabriel Maxso ...

as Truesdale *

Brad Carter David Bradley Carter (born December 5, 1973) is an American film and television actor, guitarist, painter, sculptor, and photographer, known for playing Charlie Lange in ''True Detective'' and Leland Gruen in '' Sons of Anarchy''. After suffer ...

as Grady * Samuel Lee Fudge as Henry * Mark Ashworth as Reverend * Nubel Feliz Yan as Esclavo

Production

''Emperor'' is the directorial debut of producer

. Filming began on June 18, 2018, in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...

, and lasted for 28 days. Locations used included

Fort James Jackson Fort James Jackson (usually shortened to Fort Jackson and informally known as Old Fort Jackson) is a restored nineteenth-century fort located one mile east of Savannah, Georgia, on the Savannah River. It hosts the Fort Jackson Maritime Museum. ...

(as Harpers Ferry) and the

Wormsloe Historic Site The Wormsloe Historic Site, informally known as Wormsloe Plantation, is a state historic site near Savannah, Georgia, in the southeastern United States. The site consists of protecting part of what was once the Wormsloe Plantation, a large estate ...

Release

In January 2020,

Briarcliff Entertainment Tom Ortenberg (born 8 August 1960) is an American businessman. Early life and career Ortenberg was born to a Jewish family on 8 August 1960, in Briarcliff Manor, New York. He attended Pennsylvania State University and graduated in 1982. While th ...

acquired the film's U.S. distribution rights, and planned to release it in theaters on March 27, 2020. This release was canceled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, and the film was instead released on DVD, digital and

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

on August 18, 2020, by

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc and MCA Videocassette, Inc.) is the home video distribution division of Am ...

Reception

''Emperor'' received mixed reviews. , of the reviews compiled by

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

are positive, with an average rating of . Glenn Kenny of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' gave a mixed review, praising the lead Okeniyi's acting while finding the plot to be "unimaginative" and the dialogue "tired". Martin Thomas of

Double Toasted Double Toasted is an entertainment website based in Austin, Texas. The site hosts weekly podcasts covering current events, pop culture, movie reviews and video games. History After the closure of Spill.com in 2013, Korey Coleman was encoura ...

put the film as his #1 worst film of 2020, describing it as poorly written, historically inaccurate.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
On RogerEbert.com, Simon Abrams gave it one star, calling it toothless, insulting, inert, tacky, lousy, and mediocre. "It re-presents a dark period in American history without being inspired or insightful enough to be worth your curiosity or emotional investment."

Historical accuracy

had broken speech and was hard to understand; he may have had a speech defect. Douglass described him as "a man of few words". Shields Green actually met both Douglass and John Brown at the former's home in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

, where John was visiting and working on his project. What Green was doing as a slave in South Carolina is unknown, but that he managed a plantation is very unlikely. In Rochester, living in Douglass's house, he worked as a barber and launderer. Green did not escape from the raid on Harper's Ferry. He was captured, tried, and convicted along with Brown for treason against Virginia, murder, and inciting a slave insurrection, and hanged two weeks after Brown. There is no evidence that Green saw his son again after he left South Carolina, nor that his son wrote a book about him. While the fact that he had a son is documented, that he had "sons" is not. The names of his wife and son are unknown.

References

External links

* * *{{Metacritic film 2020 directorial debut films 2020 drama films 2020 films 2020 Western (genre) films 2020s American films 2020s English-language films 2020s historical drama films African-American Western (genre) films American films based on actual events American historical drama films Cultural depictions of John Brown (abolitionist) Cultural depictions of Frederick Douglass Drama films based on actual events Films about American slavery Films not released in theaters due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films scored by Javier Navarrete Films set in 1859 Films set in 1890 Films set in Charleston, South Carolina Films set in Maryland Films set in Virginia Films shot in Savannah, Georgia Western (genre) films based on actual events