With no fewer than four projects already in the works, Deadline brings us news this week that Ridley Scott now has another film in development, albeit one with a much more serious subject matter than the others. The director is looking to helm a film about the devastating effects of concussions on professional football players.
Scott and his production company, Scott Free, are seeking a writer to craft a story in the vein of Michael Mann’s The Insider, the Oscar-nominated film that exposed what big tobacco companies did to silence a whistleblower in the early 1990s. With the NFL being as dominant as they are right now, this could be an explosive film with massive repercussions, particularly on the heels of a recent expose done on the television’s Frontline.
Scott has a full plate right now, with his biblical epic Exodus starring Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton and Aaron Paul set to be released next year, and a television show called The Vatican also in post-production. None of this is to mention the still-in-development sequels to Prometheus (which purportedly has a script) and Blade Runner (which, as far as we know, does not).
Ridley Scott is the kind of director who has shown that he likes to balance his bigger films (Prometheus) with a smaller one immediately after (The Counselor), so this may be another case of him doing one for the studio and one for himself. Either way, a film with this particular subject matter could have a major impact on the way that people view the NFL and the stance it has taken on concussions.
We’ll keep you updated as more news develops but for now, tell us, what do you think of Ridley Scott tackling the hot topic of concussions.
