The NFL is more than happy to put their support behind a big ol' wet kiss of a film like Draft Day. Heck, Commissioner Roger Goodell even showed up in it as himself. But make a movie about the connection between concussions and NFL players and...uh oh, better watch out. Earlier this week the trailer was released for Concussion, which stars Will Smith as Dr. Bennet Omalu, the one who discovered and fought to reveal said connection. This is obviously a touchy subject for the NFL, but it was also a concern for Sony who took steps to make sure this wouldn't turn into a legal headache.
The New York Times dug into Sony's emails and discovered that changes were made to the screenplay to avoid legal hassles from the NFL. But of course. However, writer/director Peter Landesman says the moves weren't to bow down to the NFL, but to make the story “better and richer and fairer" without being antagonistic.
“We don’t want to give the N.F.L. a toehold to say, ‘They are making it up,’ and damage the credibility of the movie." He adds, “There were things that might have been creatively fun to have actors say that might not have been accurate in the heads of the N.F.L. or doctors. We might have gotten away with it legally, but it might have damaged our integrity as filmmakers. We didn’t have a need to make up anything because it was powerful and revelatory on its own. There was never an instance where we compromised the storytelling to protect ourselves from the N.F.L.”
This is contradicted by some emails which state that Sony lawyers took “most of the bite” out of the film “for legal reasons with the N.F.L. and that it was not a balance issue.”
Landesman has stated the film's goal isn't to attack the NFL, and touts Sports Illustrated writer Peter King's acceptance of the drama as evidence. He refers to King as the "insider of insiders" when it comes to the NFL, and on that note he's absolutely correct. So if Landesman's point was to show that the ultimate mouthpiece for the NFL thinks his film is sufficiently embracing of the league's position then he's done a good job. Surely it doesn't prove that Concussion is the exposé piece many thought it would be.
Concussion hits theaters on Christmas Day. [EW]
