'Concussion' Movie Script, Marketing Altered by Sony to Appease NFL

Many football fans are eagerly anticipating the December release of the film Concussion, which stars Will Smith, to see how it depicts Dr. Bennet Omalu's quest to inform the NFL and greater public of the dangers of playing the sport. According to Ken Belson of the New York Times, observers may be underwhelmed by how critical the film is of the league.

Belson pointed to emails from Sony Pictures executives, which show the lengths to which the studio went to placate the NFL.

"Smith is not anti-football [nor is the movie] and isn't planning to be a spokesman for what football should be or shouldn't be but rather is an actor taking on an exciting challenge," Dwight Caines, the president of domestic marketing at Sony Pictures, wrote to fellow executives. "We'll develop messaging with the help of NFL consultant to ensure that we are telling a dramatic story and not kicking the hornet's nest."

According to Belson, a lawyer for Sony also removed "most of the bite" from the film to avoid any sort of legal action by the NFL.

Matt Pearce of the Los Angeles Times highlighted director Peter Landesman's reasoning for the reported alterations:

Sporting News' Jesse Spector wondered if Landesman and Sony have anything to lose by taking a shot at the league:

Sony Pictures on Monday released the film's first trailer, which you can watch below:

The inspiration for Concussion came from a 2009 article in GQ by Jeanne Marie Laskas. It chronicled the work of Omalu and his initial discovery of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease that has affected football players who have suffered repeated blows to the head.

Also, Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru co-authored League of Denial, which shed light on the NFL's attempts to minimize the impact multiple concussions can have on a player's brain. The book was turned into a PBS documentary as well.

Concussion is set to hit theaters on Christmas Day 2015.