Yesterday, Variety revealed that Will Smith is going to star in a yet to be named movie about concussions in the NFL. Based on the GQ article “Game Brain”, the movie will be written and directed by Peter Landesman.
More from Variety:
The article was written by Jeanne Marie Laskas and follows Dr. Bennet Omalu, played by Smith, the forensic neuropathologist who single-handedly made the first discovery of CTE in a professional football player and brought awareness to the public. Story is described as a whistle-blower tale in the vein of “The Insider” humanizing the price paid by professional athletes in impact sports — and the political, cultural and corporate interests that fuel the business of professional sports.
Now is as good a time as any to make a movie about this. The NFL certainly cannot flex its muscles to try and get people to pull out of this project as it has done in the past (or, it can try, but Sony probably will give them the ol’ proverbial middle finger. Or an actual middle finger). Between lawsuits about concussions and lawsuits about painkillers, the league is definitely in the midst of a PR nightmare, and this movie will probably only underscore that.
It will be interesting to see who else is cast in this movie, but Will Smith as the lead is a pretty good choice.
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About Reva Friedel
Reva is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and the AP Party. She lives in Orange County and roots for zero California teams.