Will Smith threatens to give the NFL an almighty headache in the first trailer for Concussion, a new film that paints the league in a harsh light.
Directed by Peter Landesman (Parkland), Concussion centers on Dr Bennet Omalu (Smith), the Nigerian forensic pathologist and neuropathologist who discovered chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in football players, who take countless blows to the head playing the sport. Omalu made the discovery after performing an autopsy on former Steelers center Mike Webster (played by David Morse in the movie). Because of Omalu’s findings, other players who have endured a history of head trauma have been found to suffer from the same progressive degenerative brain disease.
Smith appears to be gunning for an Oscar as Omalu, mastering the accent with aplomb and visibly disappearing into the role of the crusader. The promising glimpse of his performance in Concussion calls to mind his transformative turn as Muhammad Ali in Michael Mann’s 2001 biopic Ali, which earned the actor an Oscar nomination.
The tone of the trailer is reminiscent of another Mann film – 1999’s whistleblowing thriller The Insider. Like that film, which tracked Jeffrey Wigand’s battle with the tobacco industry, Concussion looks to portray the NFL as a villainous entity, hellbent on silencing Omalu.
Landesman likened football to “smoking, drinking and doing drugs” in a recent interview with the Monday Morning Quarterback. “I like to think in some ways that life is an occupational hazard,” he said. “Something we do in our life is going to kill us; maybe now, maybe 50 years from now.” To Landesman, Concussion is a “story about making adult choices”.
The film opens in the US on Christmas Day, just as the NFL gears up for the playoffs.
