To say David Ayer's upcoming Netflix movie is ambitious would be an understatement. Bright, which won't hit the streaming network until Dec. 22, is a fantasy thriller with the grit of a rated-R cop movie like Ayer's End of Watch, only interwoven with themes pulled straight out of Lord of the Rings. The film takes place in a world where creatures like orcs and elves live and work side by side with humans, which results in a rigid hierarchy forming among the races: chic and beautiful elves at the top, humans somewhere in the middle, and orcs at the bottom.
Will Smith stars as LAPD police officer Daryl Ward, a human, who finds his work life suddenly much more complicated when he's partnered with "diversity hire" Nick Jakoby (Joel Edgerton), an orc. Ward is openly angry about Jakoby's arrival at first, a situation that Smith found fascinating as a black man.
"It's such a bizarre world. Joel [Edgerton] plays the first orc on the LAPD. It felt really great to be an African American police officer and have them find somebody else [for me to] be racist against," he joked during a panel for Bright at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday. "You're never on that side of racism when you're black. Like, 'Listen, man, I don't want no orcs in my car!'"
Tackling race in film is nothing new, but having those themes featured so prominently in a fantasy film (which reportedly cost Netflix $100 million) is a risk, one that both Ayer and the cast acknowledged the difficulties of navigating. Ayer explained that he hopes by showcasing racism in Bright's fantastical universe, it might open a few minds to real-life issues, and Smith noted that the director wasn't "delicate" about examining the harsh realities of the movie's themes.
"It's great to have this size of a spectacular world, but then to really narrow the story down to something as simple and human as a foolish prejudice is really beautiful," Smith said. "It's such a beautiful snapshot of our world without hammering on it too much. To see all of the layers in people and all of the different issues . . . at the end of the day everyone is really just trying to have a good life."