After sharing the screen with his son Jaden Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness, Will Smith went back to starring in movies on his own (such as Hancock and Seven Pounds), and helped produce the remake of The Karate Kid; which saw Jaden take center stage (and deliver a breathtaking performance); but will soon be sharing the screen with his son once once again; as the pair recently signed on to appear in an M. Night Shyamalan sci-fi movie.
Despite being the visionary writer/director behind Unbreakable and The Sixth Sense, Shyamalan’s name has recently been running out of Hollywood clout; thanks to a couple of disastrous movies which include The Happening (a garbled mess of an environmental message) and The Last Airbender (winner of countless bad reviews, and several of this year’s Razzie awards); but could see a resurgence thanks to Smith’s involvement on this as yet untitled project, and a co-writing credit from The Book of Eli scribe Gary Whitta.
Set 1000 years in the future, the film’s plot reads similarly to that of I Am Legend (with Jaden filling in as the replacement for the dog); as it involves a young lad and his estranged father (the Smiths) exploring a desolate and empty Planet Earth, when their ship eventually crash lands there.
There’s no word yet as to whether Smith & son will play aliens, or humans in a Planet of the Apes style return to Earth, but as the project is being funded by regular Smith backers sony, there should be some great special effects, and a big return to audience who may not get everything they want from the Sony backed Men In Black III; which is still delayed, is keeping Will hard at work, and is still currently scheduled for a release next summer.
Matt Wheeldon.
Source: Variety.
