Director Denies 'Concussion' Intended to 'Take Down' the NFL

For the record, Peter Landesman loves football. He played it for two years in college.

So the director disputes his film "Concussion," about a scientist who discovered brain trauma in former players from head injuries, is a hit piece directed at the NFL, despite the ominous portrayal of the league in the film's trailer.

"This is not a movie that is intended to take down the NFL or destroy football," Landesman tells EW.com.

Instead, he says, the Christmas release is a "David-versus-Goliath movie about a whistleblower who tells an important truth about an incredibly important thing."

What's more, he adds, it's "maybe the best performance Will Smith has ever given," playing Nigerian-born forensic pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu, who published the first studies on Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, only to be discredited by the NFL.

Still, the NFL did not participate in the film. Landesman had set up a meeting with the league, then canceled it.

"Although this movie’s not a piece of journalism, it is exposing a very uncomfortable, and to the NFL, a very dangerous truth. And I knew that they were not going to be pleased," he says. "So I didn’t want to subvert myself. I didn’t want to get in my own way and reach out to someone who is not going to be party to the project. There was just no purpose."

Watch the trailer below:

https://youtu.be/yk9qf8bkEvM