Will Smith is going to make everyone aware of the seriousness of head injuries in the NFL with his new sports drama "Concussion."
The first trailer for "Concussion" has been released by Sports Illustrated writer Peter King and it's already making a huge statement. The clip was featured in King's Monday Morning Quarterback column and with the NFL season kicking off in just 10 days, the movie promises to tell the truth behind this serious problem.
In the film, which is based on a true story, Smith plays Dr. Bennet Omal, who is the forensic neuropathologist that discovered chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) when he performed an autopsy on Mike Webster, the Pittsburgh Steelers player who committed suicide in 2002, according to Entertainment Weekly. Smith "goes to war against a corporation that owns a day of the week" to speak out against a problem that is going unnoticed and killing players. He faces many problems on the way as the NFL tries to hold him back and deny that it's a problem, but he is going to do what it takes to reveal the damages head injuries can cause.
"I have no position on whether or not people should play football or whether they should have their kids play football," director Peter Landesman told King. "To me, this is a story about making adult choices. Once you have the information - and the information has been obscured for a long time, it's been buried and covered up by people who don't want to damage the sport - the information is now out there and I hope this movie brings together the information in a way that the general public can metabolize and now make their own decisions."
With "Concussion," they want to make a huge point. It's more than just a movie about a true story, it's about making this all public and hoping that it never goes unnoticed again.
"So now that you know that concussions can kill you and playing the sport can kill you," Landesman continued. "It's on every parent and it's on every college player, it's on every high school player and professional player on whether you are going to let your child play."
Smith stars alongside Luke Wilson, who plays NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, and Alex Baldwin and Albert Brooks, who play doctors to help him fight this battle, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The true story is based on the 2009 GQ magazine article "Game Brain" by Jeanne Marie Laskas.
"Concussion" will hit theaters Dec. 25, according to Bleacher Report. The NFL has not yet commented on the release of the movie.
In my column today is the exclusive trailer for @ConcussionMovie, starring Will Smith. https://t.co/niEkvJd1aK https://t.co/mVKMUm4rNy
— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) August 31, 2015
