Will Smith Disappointed 'Concussion' Didn't Have More Impact On NFL

Actor Will Smith had expected the 2015 film “Concussion,” in which he plays a pathologist who exposes the truth about traumatic brain injuries in National Football League players, would lead to serious change in the sport.  Instead, alarming scientific research that the movie highlighted went largely overlooked, which Smith said came as a surprise, he told Vanity Fair.  “I thought ‘Concussion’ would have a bigger impact,” Smith told the magazine. “I knew it would be hard because people love the game, but the science is so overwhelming, and it’s something that we really need to take a look at.” “I thought that people would get behind the mission of that,” he added. “I was surprised that people were absolutely like, ‘Nope, I’m not stopping watching football, so I don’t want to know.’” The sports thriller is based on the true story of Dr. Bennet Omalu, a Nigerian American forensic pathologist who fought to prove that repeated blows to the head while playing football resulted in numerous athletes developing the brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.  Before the movie was released to the public, Sports Illustrated’s Monday Morning Quarterback screened it for 70 former NFL players and their families.  “I watch this movie and I know we were paid to hurt people,” former linebacker Keith McCants told Sports Il...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news