Netflix’s biggest film to date, Bright, arrives on the platform this week. With a budget pegged at around $90 million, the movie is a fantasy adventure starring Will Smith and Joel Edgerton as a pair of police officers in modern day Los Angeles.
Except the character played by Edgerton, Nick Jakoby, ain’t an ordinary cop. Jakoby is an orc. Directed by David Ayer (Suicide Squad, End of Watch) and written by Max Landis (Chronicle, American Ultra), Bright is based in a universe where humans, elves, orcs and other supernatural creatures live side-by-side.
Smith plays Jakoby’s partner Daryl Ward, an LAPD veteran five years from retirement. Jakoby meanwhile is an inexperienced rookie. The two cops become the custodians of a young Elf named Tikka (another Australian actor, Lucy Fry) who is in possession of a rare magic wand.
To prepare for shooting, Edgerton spent hours in the makeup chair every day. This process was overseen by Christopher Nelsen, who won an Academy Award for his work on Suicide Squad. Nelsen’s inspiration for Jakoby’s look came from researching hairless monkeys, hairless bears and hippopotamuses.
The New South Wales-born actor has recently turned heads in the acclaimed scary movie It Comes at Night, and the period drama Loving. But Bright is something different.
We’ll find out soon enough if the film is any good (it arrives on Netflix on December 22). Bright certainly looks action-packed, and Edgerton looks pretty amazing.
