Will Smith’s existential questions in Gemini Man

Will Smith headlines Gemini Man as Henry Brogan, an elite assassin, who is suddenly targeted and pursued by a mysterious young operative that seemingly can predict his every move – because the latter seems to be Brogan’s younger self.

For top Hollywood action film producer Jerry Bruckheimer, there was no doubt in his mind who would portray not only Brogan – the world-weary government assassin whose decision to retire triggers an incredible series of events – but also Junior, his 23-year-old clone, who is determined to assassinate the assassin. It would be the man with whom he had worked three times in the previous 20 years, Will Smith.

Smith himself was immediately compelled by the possibilities of the role. “The contact with a version of your younger self, and as I discovered when I started playing it, the converse, the contact with the version of your older self, it’s intriguing, it’s scary,” he recalls. “I’ve heard people ask a lot of times, if you could go back to your younger self and give yourself some advice, what would it be? And Gemini Man actually creeps into that experience. It brings up existential questions about how to live a life.”

Henry Brogan is a complicated man.