Smith ‘Gains’ New Projects

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Will Smith is attached to star in the upcoming film Seven Pounds for Columbia Pictures and will produce the film alongside his Overbrook Entertainment partner James Lassiter. 

Seven Pounds was written by Grant Nieporte, and tells the story of a man who inadvertently falls in love with a woman while attempting to kill himself. Sort of a depressed Hitch, I guess.

Other projects in the pipeline for the Oscar nominee include a film I have been waiting for years… I am Legend, in which Smith plays the lone healthy survivor of a biological war who faces off against nocturnal mutants. A litany of stars and directors have been attached to this one, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was to star for a few while. Right now, Francis Lawrence is attached to direct I Am Legend. Lawrence’s recent efforts include Constantine. Charleton Heston played Neville in the film The Omega Man (1971) with the same storyline. The action packed and thought-provoking sci-fi drama has been one of my personal favorites for many years.

Smith will also top-line The Pursuit of Happyness, now in post-production. Happyness focuses on a struggling salesman (Smith) who takes custody of his son (played by Jaden Smith) as his life is about to change course. It’s currently in post, and has a release date of December 15, 2006 (subject to change, of course).

And Will Smith didn’t get to play the first African-American Superman, but he will play a super-hero yet, in Tonight He Comes, about a superhero who falls for a local housewife in a small town he mistakenly drops in on.