With Will Smith recently dropping out of the big screen adaptation of the Marcus Sakey novel ‘Brilliance,’ a new report brings word that Jared Leto is in talks to take on the lead role. The film’s start has moved a couple of times, and Will Smith’s exit reportedly came down to timing and the untitled Ridley Scott-produced pic on concussions in the NFL. The talks are still early as Leto just met with director Julius Onah but if a deal goes through he would co-star with Noomi Rapace. Leto was most recently seen in ‘Dallas Buyers Club,’ which earned him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar


Set in a world where some people called “brilliants” are born with heightened cognitive abilities, the story follows a federal agent whose extraordinary gift makes him exceptional at hunting terrorists. The novel was published by Thomas and Mercer, an imprint of Amazon, in August 2013. ‘Brilliance’ is the first of a planned three-book series, with the second book set to be released later this year.


The original book is described as follows: In Wyoming, a little girl reads people’s darkest secrets by the way they fold their arms. In New York, a man sensing patterns in the stock market racks up $300 billion. In Chicago, a woman can go invisible by being where no one is looking. They’re called “brilliants,” and since 1980, one percent of people have been born this way. Nick Cooper is among them; a federal agent, Cooper has gifts rendering him exceptional at hunting terrorists. His latest target may be the most dangerous man alive, a brilliant drenched in blood and intent on provoking civil war. But to catch him, Cooper will have to violate everything he believes in—and betray his own kind.


Source: Variety.