Last week Will Smith left the sci-fi movie Brilliance, but now he’s found something else he might want to appear in, as Variety reports he’s in talks to star in a currently untitled drama about the problem of concussions in American Football’s NFL. for producer Ridley Scott, which examines the NFL’s concussion issues.
Assuming he signs on, Smith will play Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic neuropathologist who, in 2002, was the first doctor to discover chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in the brain of a professional football player. The movie, based on the 2009 GQ article Game Brain by Jeanne Marie Laskas, is described as a whistleblower tale in the same vein as The Insider, which explores the traumatic price that athletes pay, along with the political, corporate and cultural interests that drive professional sports.
The NFL has been criticised for attacking those who’ve tried to raise the issue, while ignoring the growing evidence of the problem athletes face after they leave the sport due to brain injuries they’ve sustained.
Ridley Scott signed on to direct last Novermber, but now he will just produce. Instead Peter Landesman (Parkland) is set to both direct and write the script, based on the 2009 GQ article Game Brain by Jeanne Marie Laskas.
Leave a Reply (if comment does not appear immediately, it may have been held for moderation)