As reported by The Wrap, Luke Wilson has signed on to Ridley Scott’s yet-untitled football concussion movie. Wilson will be playing NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, a role that seems perfectly suited for some great supervillain-esque scene-chewing. However, the yet-untitled football concussion movie seems to be positioning Goodell as a guy who actually does the right thing, despite that one particularly notable example when he did not. That’s according to The Wrap’s description of Goodell’s character arc, which it says focuses on how he “eventually recognizes the connection [between football and concussions] and donates huge amounts of money to scientific research.”
As we previously reported, Will Smith is set to star as Dr. Bennet Omalu, the forensic neuropathologist who first realized that maybe all of these football players getting smashed in the head were injuring their brains. Ridley Scott is producing the film (which we’re just going to start calling Football Head Smash), and Parkland’s Peter Landesman will direct. Treme’s David Morse will play former Pittsburgh Steeler Mike Webster, the player who was first diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy due to football-related injuries. Football Head Smash also features Alec Baldwin, Paul Reiser, and Albert Brooks, all of whom are also—we assume—playing professional football players.