Throughout his career as a movie star, Will Smith has always been identifiable as the hero.
Throughout his career as a movie star, Will Smith has always been identifiable as the hero. Whether he's facing down threats from our own world or others, he's always the smart, charismatic good guy who audiences know will always do what it takes to stop them. And this point in his career, however, Smith has apparently started thinking a bit more about the ranges of morality - and it's because of this personal interest that he decided to join the upcoming DC Comics film Suicide Squad .
This past weekend, the Men In Black star participated in a press conference promoting his upcoming con man film Focus , and it was after being asked about his new comic book movie that he expressed why he decided to be a part of it. He explained to the crowd of journalists (via MovieWeb),
I guess I like the concept of dubious morals. I always liked to play in that area. With Suicide Squad , we just started on that. I think I haven't explored the psychology enough of Deadshot, somebody who could take money to kill people; how he justifies that for himself.
As Will Smith noted, he will be playing Floyd Lawton a.k.a. Deadshot in Suicide Squad , who in the comics has classically been an assassin with nearly superhuman aiming abilities. Rather than just being a guy looking for a payday, however, the last decade has seen the character doing his work so that he can provide for his daughter. It's very likely that this will wind up being a part of the big screen adaptation, as it provides a bit of depth to a guy who otherwise might just appear to be a heartless killer.
To Smith's credit, Suicide Squad won't be the first time that he has played a character with a greyer view on morals. Not only is he playing a criminal in Focus who gleefully steals from his various marks, but we're only a few years removed from his turn in Hancock , which saw him playing a superhero of the more drunk/homeless variety.
At this point there aren't really any firm details available about what we can expect in Suicide Squad , though it has been confirmed that Will Smith will be joined in the film by Jared Leto (The Joker), Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Jai Courtney (Boomerang) and Cara Delevingne (Enchantress). It's also been rumored that Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthorwill be making his first post- Batman v Superman appearance in the movie, though that has not yet been made official. The production is also still looking for an actor to replace Tom Hardyas Rick Flag - though we can expect that to happen in the next couple weeks, as production is starting up very soon.
Suicide Squad is currently in pre-production, and will be hitting a theater near you on August 5, 2016.