Heads-up, everyone: Will Smith is in talks to star in a currently untitled film about NFL concussions, based off of a GQ article.
Peter Landesman (Parkland) will direct and write the movie, which could find Smith playing Dr. Bennet Omalu, the neuropathologist who raised awareness of how dire a problem concussions are in professional football, Variety reports. Jeanne Marie Laskas followed Omalu in her 2009 article “Game Brain.”
The film isn’t the only project tackling the issue, though: An adaptation of the book League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions and the Battle for Truth is in the works, and Isiah Washington will star in the movie Game Time Decision.
The NFL has been concerned about its portrayal in film and television in the past and was reportedly uncooperative with a PBS documentary about the concussions issue.
[Variety]
More Must-Reads from TIME
- The 100 Most Influential People in AI 2024
- Inside the Rise of Bitcoin-Powered Pools and Bathhouses
- How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador
- What Makes a Friendship Last Forever?
- Long COVID Looks Different in Kids
- Your Questions About Early Voting , Answered
- Column: Your Cynicism Isn’t Helping Anybody
- The 32 Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2024
Write to Nolan Feeney at nolan.feeney@time.com