We’re really hoping that the new Will Smith drama, inspired by the controversy over concussion brain injuries in America’s National Football League, scores a proper title soon. But while there’s no word on a name yet, it has added another actor, with Pompeii’s Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje joining the cast.
Parkland director Peter Landesman is directing the film, which adapts Jeanne Marie Laskas’ GQ article Game Brain. The piece followed Dr. Bennet Omalu (Smith in the film), a forensic neuropathologist who made the crucial first discovery of concussive head trauma in an NFL player and strove to bring awareness of the condition to the general public.
Described as a sports take on The Insider – putting a human face on a story about a thorny issue and the commercial interests involved in making sure the news doesn’t spread too far – it also boasts the likes of Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Alec Baldwin, David Morse, Stephen Moyer and Albert Brooks.
Akinnuoye-Agbaje will play real-life NFL safety Dave Duerson, a three-time Pro Bowl pick who died in 2011 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. He asked before he died that his brain be sent to researchers, who diagnosed that he’d suffered chronic traumatic encephalopathy caused by rough clashes on the pitch.
There’s no word on when the film might arrive, but Akinnuoye-Agbaje has a role in Annie (out December 26) and has worked on Trumbo with Bryan Cranston.