Will Smith to star in adaptation of sci-fi novel Brilliance

By Sam Barsanti | September 8, 2019 | 7:42pm

Aux Features Film

Will Smith to star in adaptation of sci-fi novel Brilliance

Photo: Rich Fury

As reported by Deadline, Will Smith has found another sci-fi property to work with Akiva Goldsman on, following their other extremely lucrative projects I, Robot, I Am Legend, and Hancock. This time, with Smith starring and Goldsman once again writing, the duo will be adapting the first book of Marcus Sakey’s Brilliance series, which is set in a world where one percent of all children are born with special superpowers. Naturally, the non-super-people hate and fear the super-people, referring to them as “twists” or “abnorms” instead of the socially acceptable term “Brilliants”—not to be confused with Brilliance, the name of the book. (They’re obviously spelled differently, but that will be helpful for anyone reading this story out loud.)

Will Smith will play a government agent named Nick Cooper who, despite being a Brilliant himself with the ability to see future events, works to hunt down rogue Brilliants who try to use their powers for evil. Of course, he eventually starts to suspect that it’s actually the powerful non-super-people who are the evil ones, and—as Deadline says—”everything Cooper believes in will be called into question.” It certainly sounds like another Smith/Goldsman collab, to the extent that Deadline points out that Smith has been wanting to get in on this for quite a few years, stepping back to when he had to drop out so he could star in Concussion.