A film project called “Brilliance” produced by Will Smith and his Westbrook Studios and set at Paramount has taken a step forward. The studio is in talks with “Ms. Marvel” filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy to direct the film, an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.
Though “Brilliance” has been floating around for years, with Paramount optioning the script back in 2019 and Smith involved for years prior to that, Obaid-Chinoy coming aboard as a director is a new development. And Smith, who has not made a film since the infamous Oscars slap earlier this year ahead of his Best Actor win, is still attached to produce via his company Westbrook Studios alongside Jon Mone and Ryan Shimazaki.
Though Smith was at one point attached to star in the film, the individual says that he is not formally committed to star in “Brilliance” at this stage.
“Brilliance” is an adaptation of a novel of the same name by Marcus Sakey. It imagines a future in which 1% of the world’s population is born with special mental and physical gifts, leading the world’s governments to track them and have branded them “brilliants.” The main character is special agent who also has brilliant gifts and is tasked with tracking down a violent criminal brilliant, or “abnorm,” who wishes to spark a civil war between ordinary humans and those with special gifts.
Obaid-Chinoy would be making her narrative feature directorial debut on “Brilliance,” though in addition to “Ms. Marvel” she also has directed the Oscar-winning documentary shorts “Saving Face” and “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness.”
Akiva Goldsman wrote the script for “Brilliance” and is also producing via his Weed Road Pictures, along with Shane Salerno via The Story Factory and James Lassiter. Sakey is serving as a co-producer.
Smith’s next project would be “Emancipation,” a Civil War-era drama directed by Antoine Fuqua and to be released by Apple, but a report from the New York Times over the weekend said that the streamer has been weighing just when to roll out the movie, whether for this year or for some point in 2023, as a means of getting out of the shadow of the Oscars slap.
Deadline first reported the news of Obaid-Chinoy’s attachment.
