THE OBENSON REPORT

Will Smith's definitely got himself a busy schedule. He has been the focus of several posts on this blog over the last couple of weeks. He's got Hancock with Charlize Theron coming up later this year; then there's Steven Spielberg's film about the Chicago Seven in which he plays Black Panther leader, Bobby Seales, due out later this year, or early next year; and now he's starring in a film called Seven Pounds, which is said to begin shooting this month, so we can expect a late 2008, early 2009 release. Looks like we'll be seeing a lot of Mr Smith over the next 12 to 24 months. Must be nice to be working consistently.

The Hollywood Report announced that Mr Smith handpicked Michael Ealy (Sleeper Cell) to play his younger brother in the upcoming film, Seven Pounds. The film re-unites The Pursuit of Happyness director Gabriele Muccino with his star Will Smith in another drama. The story is about "a suicidal IRS agent (Smith) who sets out to make amends by assuming the identity of his younger brother. His plans get complicated when he inadvertently falls in love" with a character played by Rosario Dawson, marking another reunion for Will Smith, since Dawson co-starred with him in Men in Black. Woody Harrelson is also starring.

Ealy has just finished work on Spike Lee's WWII drama, Miracle at St. Anna's, about a group of African-American soldiers who are trapped in Tuscany during a Nazi massacre. I'm mos def looking forward to seeing that this year.