Will Smith starrer Concussion movie’s trailer released today via Peter King’s Sports Illustrated column on SI.com. The movie is directed and written by Peter Landesman.
Peter Landesman tweeted, “In my column today is the exclusive trailer for @ConcussionMovie, starring Will Smith.”
On June 3, 2014, it was announced that Will Smith joined the cast of the film. On September 9, Albert Brooks and Alec Baldwin joined the film, Brooks would play Cyril H. Wecht, MD, JD, the chief forensic pathologist and Dr. Omalu’s mentor, and he also encourages him to press his discovery of CTE. Same day, Gugu Mbatha-Raw was also added to the cast.
On October 22, Richard T. Jones was added to the cast to play a former NFL star Andre Waters, who played from 1984 to 1995 and committed suicide in November 2006. On October 28, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje was added to the cast to play Dave Duerson, a NFL player who was also affected and later committed suicide. On October 29, Matt Willig joined the film to star as Justin Strzelczyk, an NFL player who died during a high-speed police chase in 2004.
Concussion, a drama based movie based on the true story of two pro football players, Dave Duerson and Andre Waters who were diagnosed with some unknown disease. The story follows an American immigrant, Dr. Bennet Omalu, the brilliant forensic neuropathologist who made the first discovery of CTE, a football-related brain trauma. The disease, known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE, can present with symptoms such as memory loss and depression, and in the case of Duerson and Waters, both men later committed suicide. The trailer shows Smith as Omalu battling the will of a monolithic NFL corporation.
Duerson died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. Following his request, his brain was sent to the Boston University School of Medicine for research on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Neurologists at Boston University confirmed that Duerson had CTE as a result of the concussions he suffered during his playing career while Waters committed suicide shortly after 1 a.m. on November 20, 2006, according to the Hillsborough County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office, dying of a gunshot to the head. He was at his home in Tampa, Florida where he was found by his girlfriend.
The movie is based on the GQarticle “Game Brain” by Jeanne Marie Laskas, and produced by Ridley Scott, Giannina Scott, David Wolthoff, Larry Shuman, and Elizabeth Cantillon.
Principal photography began on October 27, 2014, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Village Roadshow Pictures, Scott Free Productions and The Shuman Company are producing the film. Columbia Pictures will release the film as scheduled for an opening December 25, 2015 date.
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