Release dates are always subject to change, but three filmed-in-Pittsburgh movies with big names — Vin Diesel, Michael Caine, Diane Keaton, John Goodman, Will Smith and Alec Baldwin, to name just a few — are set to arrive within two months this fall.
Sony Pictures has announced a Christmas Day opening for “Concussion,” the drama in which Mr. Smith plays Dr. Bennet Omalu, the first pathologist in the world to detect the long-developing brain injury chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE in a former football player. Peter Landesman is directing his screenplay based on a GQ article by Jeanne Marie Laskas.
Although the topic has been the focus of articles, books, a documentary and sideline chatter, the film with an all-star cast, real-life roots and poignant personal stories could frame the issue in a compelling, controversial way, depending on how the NFL reacts.
The cast also includes Gugu Mbatha-Raw (“Beyond the Lights”) as Prema Mutiso, a nurse from Nairobi who meets Dr. Omalu at St. Benedict the Moor Church in the Hill District and becomes his wife; Albert Brooks as Dr. Cyril Wecht; David Morse as the late Steelers center Mike Webster, whose brain bore signs of the head collisions he experienced as a player; Alec Baldwin, Paul Reiser and Arliss Howard as physicians; and Luke Wilson, reportedly as NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
“Concussion” will cap the year but July 31 is expected to bring Antoine Fuqua’s “Southpaw” with Jake Gyllenhaal as a boxer; Oct. 23, “The Last Witch Hunter,” starring Mr. Diesel, Mr. Caine, Elijah Wood and Rose Leslie; and Nov. 13, “Let It Snow,” a holiday picture just getting underway with Ms. Keaton, Mr. Goodman, Alan Arkin, Ed Helms and others.
No date has been announced for “Me & Earl & the Dying Girl,” and “Fathers & Daughters” could arrive before year's end but it also has no announced date.
Movie editor Barbara Vancheri: bvancheri@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1632.
First Published: January 28, 2015, 3:06 a.m.
Updated: January 28, 2015, 10:07 p.m.