Will Smith takes to Netflix in a Christmas cop drama that portrays anything but a Bright future
Nothing cries Christmas at the movies like a new Will Smith blockbuster (with apologies to Star Wars fans). This time, however, you will be popping and buttering your own popcorn at home, as Smith brings his action-star A-game to Netflix with Bright, an intense feature film that reunites him with his Suicide Squad director, David Ayer.
Bright is set in an alternate reality, a gritty, modern-day Los Angeles where humans coexist with elves, orcs and other strange beings, trouble lurks around every corner. It is something that LAPD veteran officer Daryl Ward (Smith) knows all too well. He is five years from retirement, but his odds of getting there narrow every night that he rides with his wet-behind-the-pointyears partner, the earnest Nick Jakoby (Joel Edgerton).
That is the hook, but here is the twist: Jakoby is also the first orc to serve on the force and is prone to rookie mistakes, which hardly makes his partner’s job any easier. Ward, thankfully, knows how to keep it chill. “Bright is about an incredible friendship under extraordinary circumstances,” says Ayer, who is known for his street-savvy, down-and-dirty cinematic style. “More than anything, it’s about two guys who become friends as they go through hell together.”
Smith liked the screenplay by Max Landis, a writer who ably blends action and horror with a dark sense of humour. “That really intrigued me, the idea of these two worlds colliding – a gritty, hardcore cop drama in the middle of Los Angeles, with orcs and fairies,” Smith says.
This particular night will be unlike any other. The duo unexpectedly become the custodians of young female elf Tikka (Lucy Fry) who possesses a rare artefact of frightening power – a magic wand. Only a Bright with supernatural abilities can wield the wand safely. In the wrong hands, its nearly limitless power could wipe out humanity.
Naturally, wrong hands want it very badly. Pursued by murderous renegade elf Leilah (Noomi Rapace), Ward and Jakoby become embroiled in a bizarre turf war that takes on mythic proportions. Their lives will depend on whether
they can work through their misgivings about one another – if they hope to see sunrise again and avert untold destruction.
While Smith loves nail-biting drama, he prefers to sprinkle it with a light comic icing. “I feel that no matter how dramatic something is, no matter how heavy a topic is, no matter how much the action is, the most human part is the part that makes you laugh,” he says.
Smith, 49, enjoyed success as the MC half of the rap duo DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince in the late 1980s, but struck worldwide fame and adoration as star of The Fresh
Prince of Bel-Air sitcom, which ran for six seasons until 1996. Since then, he has become one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood – with hits including
Independence Day, Men in Black, The Pursuit of Happyness, I,
Robot and, more recently, as Deadwood in Suicide Squad.
He is the only actor to have eight consecutive films gross more than US$100 million (Dh367m) at the American box office, 11 consecutive films gross more than $150m internationally, and eight consecutive films, in which he starred, open in the top spot in the United States. He recently signed on to play the genie in director Guy Ritchie’s musical, romantic-fantasy remake of
Aladdin, due out in 2019. Australian actor Edgerton, 43, has built his reputation and following through lauded movies such as Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby,
Black Mass (opposite Johnny Depp) and critically acclaimed drama Loving, about the landmark civil-rights case Loving v Virginia. In addition, he has appeared in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, Warrior, Zero Dark Thirty and Exodus: Gods and Kings.
Hiding his face and having to communicate deep emotion from under layers of intricate make-up as Jakoby – the sensitive, tough, dryly funny orc cop – gave the 43-year-old the opportunity to try something totally new. “I thought I was going to create some character that was more animalistic, yet what we discovered through rehearsal is that Jakoby desperately wants to be human,” he says. “He spent his whole life trying to be human, so that the more human I played it, the better it was.”
Ayer adds: “Normally in these fantasy worlds, they take place in medieval times based in European cultural traditions – such as Beowulf. But what if you fast forwarded to today? What would orc culture look like? What would elves be like?” What indeed?
Bright will be available on Netflix from Friday