Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) laughs down at his opponent in FIGHT CLUB(1999).
© 20th Century Fox
Pitt a Contender For THE FIGHTER
By: Jarrod Sarafin, News EditorDate: Friday, September 21, 2007
Source: Variety
It looks like Matt Damon will not be reuniting with Mark Wahlberg for the first time since THE DEPARTED, says Variety. Damon was initially set to appear opposite Mark in the ring of THE FIGHTER, a drama based on Irish boxer Mickey Ward and his path to being a lightweight champion. Due to his schedule being too filled up, Damon was forced to drop out of the project. Now, Brad Pitt will be lacing up the gloves and helping Wahlberg in this tale about the boxer. Damon gave his blessing to good friend, Pitt, to take up the role. The trade is reporting there's still plenty of time for Paramount as production won't begin till fall of 2008.
Plot Concept: Wahlberg is set to play Ward. Pitt is in talks to play Dicky Eklund, Mickey's half-brother and a talented fighter who once knocked Sugar Ray Leonard to the canvas and went the distance in a title fight against that boxing legend.
Dicky threw his gifts away on drugs and a robbery career that landed him a sentence of 10-15 years in state prison -- but he kicked drugs, became a model prisoner and turned his life around. When he left jail, he became Mickey's trainer at a time when Ward was losing fights and was ready to hang up his gloves. Together, the brothers found the spark that led to a remarkable string of victories for Ward and the world title.
I wonder who they will get to play Arturo Gatti? They can't make a movie about Mickey Ward and not have Arturo Gatti in it. The last three fights that Ward was in. Those fights put the movies to shame. If a movie fight was choreographed like those fights, you would be calling it the fakest thing you had ever seen, because it was so back and forth, ebb and flow. Their fight trilogy is considered one of the best, right up there with Ali/Frasier.