Remember when we told you that Darren Aronofsky’s next film would be that ballet movie? Forget it. This is Hollywood, Jake, and things change faster than Liberace between numbers. Aronofsky has taken a complete 180, going from the gentle art of dance to the brutal dance of boxing.
According to my homeboy Stax at IGN, the movie is The Fighter, and it reteams The Departed foes Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg, this time as brothers. The Fighter is based on the true story of boxer “Irish” Mickey Ward (to be played by Mr. Wahlberg) and his drug-addled half-brother, Dickey Eklund (Damon), who is also his trainer. Ward, a Lowell, Mass, boy, fought in the 80s and 90s and Boston band The Dropkick Murphys have a song, The Warrior’s Code, dedicated to him. I bet that one’s on the soundtrack.
If Stax is right and Aronofsky is taking the helm of The Fighter, this is great news. As much as I loved The Fountain, it can’t be considered much of a win for anything but art, and as I told you back in paragraph one, this is Hollywood. They don’t care about art. But a compelling boxing/brothers movie starring two of the hottest actors in the business right now seems like a box office slam dunk, something that Aronofsky could use to get other, more personal and esoteric projects off the ground.
The Fighter is shooting this summer in Massachusetts.