Will Smith to Star in Netflix's 'The Council'

Will Smith have now become a Netflix man, it seems so. After his surprisingly successful collaboration with the film, Bright over two years ago, the actor is all set to have yet another project for the streaming giant. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Smith has been signed on to star in and produce The Council, a crime biopic written by Peter Landesman. The two previously worked together when Smith starred in Concussion, the 2015 drama Landesman wrote and directed.

Smith will produce with James Lassiter, his partner at Overbrook Entertainment, now under the umbrella of Smith’s Westbrook Inc. Also producing are Matt Jackson via Jackson Pictures and Jason Essex for Anonymous Nobodies.

Council aims to tell the story of an organized crime syndicate run by seven black mobsters who operated in Harlem in the 1970s. The men dreamed of a self-sufficient and self-policing African American city-state, funded by revolutionizing the drug game.

Netflix is describing the story as centering on the Shakespearean court intrigue between the Council’s king, Nicky Barnes, dubbed “Mr. Untouchable” by The New York Times, and all the different members of the Council.

Smith will play Barnes, the man who partnered with the Italian Mafia to start his own syndicate, specializing in the heroin trade. He was arrested in 1978 and, after a series of incidents, turned on the Council by becoming a federal informant. He was in the witness protection program and though he died in 2012, his death was only reported in 2019.

Smith is currently riding high on the mammoth success of Aladdin and has his upcoming film, Gemini Man set to open in theaters soon.