The highly-anticipated Will Smith movie Concussion opens Christmas Day. By now, you probably know not just the general plot — the movie centers around Dr. Bennet Omalu, who discovered the brain trauma CTE — but the tension it has created with the NFL. A New York Times report from September said the league and commissioner Roger Goodell attempted to alter the film to make it more NFL-friendly, something director Peter Landesman vehemently denied to UPROXX.
(The league, for what it’s worth, recently backed out of a Boston University brain study, according to ESPN’s Outside the Lines. The initiative was part of a $30 million research grant the NFL gave the National Institutes of Health in 2012.)
In any case, Sony Pictures is still making sure those directly affected by CTE can see the movie. According to the Hollywood Reporter, “Players can receive complimentary admission for themselves and one guest by presenting their NFLPA membership card at any Cinemark theater nationwide.” Sony has also already held several private screenings for current and former players. One of them was Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis, who told Newsday the movie “hit home pretty hard.”
Whether Concussion is “anti-NFL” or not is hardly the point, and likely won’t matter a lick to the players who choose to see it. Furthermore, I don’t know that any player in the league today is completely in the dark about what they’re doing to their bodies and minds on a weekly basis. Still, this is something that directly affects them. They should be able to see this for themselves, free of charge.
(Via the Hollywood Reporter)
