Amazingly, Will Smith has never won an Oscar. He’s certainly delivered Oscar worthy performances, but reduced his chances in recent years by taking time off from acting and having a run of bad luck with movies like After Earth and the moderately successful Focus.
However, he’s looking to get back in the game this Christmas with Concussion. Based on a popular GQ article from 2009, it tells the real life story of Dr. Bennet Omalu (Smith), a forensic neuropathologist from Nigeria, and the man who first discovered the troubling link between football injuries and early-onset dementia that, in some cases, led to death.
It was 2002 that Omalu found signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in legendary NFL plater Mike Webster, and that launched a scandal which saw the doctor come under fire from the football organisation. What followed were lawsuits, an outcry from the public, and the decision by footballers to abandon America’s most popular sport due to head injuries.
Alec Baldwin, Albert Brooks, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw will join Smith in Concussion, and it could just be that this is the movie which finally lands him an Academy Award. It’s a film which is sure to get people talking regardless, though how much interest it will generate outside of the US remains to be seen. However, as concussions remain a very real concern in sports, it’s a topical enough movie to definitely draw people’s attention. Check out the trailer below:
