Here are some photos of Will Smith at this weekend’s opening night of the Hollywood Film Awards. A lot of big-names are going to be coming out for the Hollywood Film Awards this week as Oscar season really begins to kick off and many actors want to get their films seen before more LA-centric audiences. With the endless discussion of who’s up and who’s down in the early Oscar races, Will Smith’s name has been strangely absent from most conversations. Which is weird, because his film looks really good, really timely, and like it has the potential to garner him another Oscar nomination (he was previously nominated for Ali). Here’s the trailer for Concussion, where Will plays Dr. Bennet Omalu, the neuropathologist who identified the dangers of multiple head traumas in football players.
Unlike The Revenant, which reads as an unaware boy-drama story all about men brooding and being violent in the woods, Concussion is purposefully about the men-only sport of football and the kind of toxic masculinity, boys-club cover-up and literal disease that comes out of it. Concussion is deliberately self-aware, and repetitive head-trauma in football players is a major issue that the NFL is still contending with today. Will Smith actually tried to dial down the “this is so controversial” aspect of the story, telling a media outlet:
“I don’t think it’s going to generate too much controversy (with the NFL). There will be a little difficulty in swallowing it, as it was for me. I’m a football dad, you know. You don’t want it to be true. I think that the science is really irrefutable and the story of Dr. Bennet Omalu is such a powerful story. I think that it will be difficult at first for some, but I don’t think that it’s going to be that big of an issue. It’s something that we have to accept.”
[From US News]
So, does anyone think that we’re going to be seeing more of Will Smith in the coming months? He has already been placed on some shortlists for Best Actor, but at this moment, the buzz is mostly about Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio and Michael Fassbender. But Will is keeping his promotion on-point, repeatedly referencing the fact that his oldest son was a student football player AND that the story told in the movie is 100% accurate, that the NFL did try to shut down, discredit and destroy Dr. Omalu for his findings. Basically, I think the only thing that could potentially hurt Will Smith’s Oscar chances are the rumors that Sony changed some aspects of the film at the NFL’s request.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
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