Jared Leto in Early Talks to Replace Will Smith in ‘Brilliance’

Jared Leto, who won the best supporting actor Oscar for his work in Dallas Buyers Club, may have found his next acting project.

Sources tell THR the actor is in early talks to replace Will Smith in Brilliance, Legendary’s adaptation of the Marcus Sakey novel.

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Julius Onah is directing the project, which has a script by David Koepp. Joe Roth, Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni are producing.

Sakey’s book takes place in a world where a rare set of people are born with extraordinary abilities and are called “brilliants.”

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While talks are still quite early on, if Leto decides to take on the role, he’ll play a federal agent with great hunting gifts who is drafted to hunt down a terrorist, another such brilliant who intends to start a civil war. Noomi Rapace will also star in the film, which Universal will distribute under its first-look deal with Legendary.

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Smith exited the project at the end of May, citing scheduling conflicts, as he’ll star in Warner Bros’ Focus (set for release on Feb. 27) and recently became attached to Ridley Scott‘s NFL concussion movie.

Leto, who took six years off from acting before taking on the role of Rayon in Dallas Buyers Club, has been busy with his music career and his band Thirty Seconds to Mars while searching for his next film project. He’s repped by CAA and Untitled Entertainment.

Email: Rebecca.Ford@THR.com
Twitter: @Beccamford

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