The NFL Didn't Edit 'Concussion.' Sony Did It For Them.
Will Smith stars in Concussion, the new film from Sony about brain disease in NFL players – and which Sony may have edited to avoid angering the NFL.
Concussion — the new movie starring Will Smith as a crusading doctor — has a no-holds-barred tagline: “Nothing hits harder than the truth.”
But the New York Times on Tuesday night dropped a bombshell: Concussion is pulling its punches.
Concussion focuses on the incredible true story of Bennet Omalu, played by Smith in the film, a forensic pathologist who discovered a brain disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in a dead football star named Mike Webster.
Omalu’s findings launched a still-ongoing investigation into the cognitive effects of playing football, and became the backbone of “League of Denial,” an excellent book anddocumentary about the NFL’s efforts to dodge the truth — and discredit Omalu.
How much of that story shows up in Concussion remains to be seen.
According to the Times’ review of leaked Sony emails, one message says that “unflattering moments for the NFL” in the film were removed or altered, while another email says that a Sony lawyer took “most of the bite” out of the film “for legal reasons with the NFL and that it was not a balance issue.”
One Sony executive writes, “We’ll develop messaging with the help of [a] NFL consultant to ensure that we are telling a dramatic story and not kicking the hornet’s nest.”
While the film’s director confirmed that Sony lawyers removed material fromConcussion, he disputes that the movie is materially the worse for wear.
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