According to Deadline, Will Smith is set to star in the upcoming Netflix film The Council as the New York crime boss Nicky Barnes. This project will reunite Smith with Peter Landesman whom he worked with on the film Concussion. Landesman wrote the screenplay for The Council and will executive produce the project.
The film will tell the story of the all-Black, Harlem-based crime syndicate headed by seven men, most prominently Nicky Barnes. The Council’s dream of a self-sufficient, self-policed Black city-state that would use funds through revolutionizing the drug game is at the center of Landesman narrative. In addition, Landesman’s script tracks the rise of Barnes’ public persona, which is most famously captured by the 1977 New York Times cover where he was dubbed “Mr. Untouchable.”
