'Concussion' director says film was not altered to please the NFL

NEW YORK, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Director Peter Landesman insists neither he nor Sony Pictures changed the sports-injury drama Concussion because they feared the wrath of the National Football League.

Set for theatrical release Dec. 25, the film is based on the GQ magazine article "Game Brain" by Jeanne Marie Laskas. Will Smith plays Dr. Bennet Omalu, who studies the brains of ex-professional football players and discovers they are suffering from a neuro-degenerative disease caused by repeated trauma to the head.

The New York Times cited in a report this week emails obtained and released illegally in the infamous 2014 Sony computer hack that suggested the film was altered to appease the powerful football organization.

However, Landesman disputed the account.

"We don't want to give the NFL a toehold to say, 'They are making it up,' and damage the credibility of the movie," Landesman told The Times about decisions made during the production.

"There were things that might have been creatively fun to have actors say that might not have been accurate in the heads of the NFL or doctors. We might have gotten away with it legally, but it might have damaged our integrity as filmmakers. We didn't have a need to make up anything because it was powerful and revelatory on its own," he emphasized. "There was never an instance where we compromised the storytelling to protect ourselves from the NFL."