Will Smith is in talks to star in Resistor for Sony Pictures, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. The project that hails from Escape Artists is an adaptation of the 2014 novel Influx from New York Times bestselling author Daniel Suarez, although specific plot details have not been shared. The book focuses on a government agency that locks away inventors in a secretive prison and hijacks their work.
A director is not yet attached for the film, which is currently in development. Screenwriter Zak Olkewicz (Bullet Train) penned the first draft, and the latest version is from Academy Award-nominated writer Eric Warren Singer (Top Gun: Maverick, American Hustle).
Producers include Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch, Tony Shaw and Dave Wilson, alongside Westbrook’s Smith and Jon Mone. Heather Washington is executive producing.
Smith and Black have previously collaborated on the Sony films Seven Pounds, The Pursuit of Happyness and Emancipation.
The news follows Smith’s return to his position as a top box office earner following his controversial confrontation with Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars ceremony. His Sony film Bad Boys: Ride or Die, which hit theaters earlier this month and co-stars Martin Lawrence, has surpassed $100 million at the domestic box office after 10 days of release.
Ride or Die — the fourth installment in the action-comedy movie franchise that began with 1995’s Bad Boys — marked the first movie of this summer to come in significantly ahead of tracking at the box office.
THR previously reported that Smith’s representatives at CAA had recently been contacting studio production executives for the first time since the controversial Academy Awards moment to explore potential projects in hopes of riding his Bad Boys momentum.