It's not too hard to pick up on Will Smith's acting pattern. Usually he'll star in some big-budgeted affair, and then follow that up with a smaller, awards-type movie. Sometimes he'll wedge a comedy in between, though Smith tends to like two kinds of movies: really GIANT blockbusters and really sappy awards contenders.
This latest rumored Smith film falls into the latter sappy awards contenders' category, somewhere along the lines of The Pursuit of Happyness and Seven Pounds. In fact, that same director, Gabriele Muccino, may once again collaborate with Smith on Flowers for Algernon, based on the book by Daniel Keyes that has gone through several adaptations over the years – most notably with Ralph Nelson's Charly, which nabbed Cliff Robertson an Academy Award in 1969.
And maybe that's why Smith is attracted to the role, which would find him playing a mentally retarded man who becomes the first human test subject for an experimental surgery that increases intelligence. It works splendidly, and the man's IQ shoots up from 68 to 185, though along with his newfound intelligence comes problems socializing with others, ultimately leading to him being alienated from those around him.
If that's not a sure-fire Oscar nod for Smith, I don't know what is. The only thing on Smith's radar right now is a possible return to the Men in Black franchise, and since rumor has it that Sony wants to shoot early next year, the third installment in that sci-fi franchise could come before this little nugget of a film.
Which would you rather see Will Smith take on -- Men in Black 3 or Flowers for Algernon?
