Will Smith to Star in “Brilliance”

Will Smith. Photo by Matt Baron/REX/Shutterstock (9290189ia)

Will Smith and Paramount team for a new sci-fi feature. 

The Aladdin star joins Brilliance, a big-screen adaptation of Marcus Sakey’s dystopian trilogy Brilliance. 

The story is set in the future in a world in which 1% percent of the population has been born with special powers. These people are officially labeled as “Brilliants,” but are demonized by society as “twists” or “abnorms.” And just to make sure the status quo remains just that, the government tracks them so they don’t threaten the “normal” population.

According to Deadline, which was first to report the casting, Smith will play Nick Cooper, a federal agent whose job is to track down and terminate “abnorms” who use their gifts for ill. He himself is an “abnorm” and the father of a “Brilliant” daughter.

Penning the script is Akiva Goldsman. No director is yet attached to the project.