Just a few weeks ago, Tambay reported that Will Smith had
unattached himself from Julius Onah’s sci-fi action thriller “Brilliance,” which is set up at Universal and
Legendary Pictures (HERE).

The notable thing that Tambay remarked is that the film
would have marked the first time that Smith had ever worked with a black
director, and especially a young and an upcoming one such as Onah.

However, with Smith’s leaving the project, this means that his record is
still unbroken, and it looks even worse now that Variety is reporting
(HERE) that Oscar winning actor Jared Leto will now replace Smith in
Onah’s film.

That still begs the question – why did Smith leave the
project? He’s now attached to that NFL concussions project being produced by Ridley Scott; so could it just simply be that it was a better script, which has the potential to give Smith what he has always longed the most for – an Oscar
win for Best Actor? Or does Smith have problems working with a black director? (Hey, if I don’t ask these questions who will?).

And as Tambay said about Smith: “given his position as one of a
small handful of mega-watt stars with power and reach, who, by the way, also
happens to be black, as well as the dearth of black filmmakers working
consistently within the Hollywood studio system – especially on tent-pole
projects – accompanied by the annual onslaught of articles lamenting the
industry’s lack of diversity, I think it’s quite unfortunate that this would’ve
been the very first time in his movie acting career (spanning some 20 years)
that he would’ve been directed by a black filmmaker!”

What do you say?