I never thought I would see Brad Pitt and Darren Aronofsky working together again. Pitt was once going to star in The Fountain – going so far as to grow a big long beard – before dropping out at the last minute, an event that saw the picture get shut down. Aronofsky managed to get The Fountain running again, and turned it into one of my favorite films of last year, but I wondered what kind of bad blood was between the two. Some Aronofsky interviews made it seem like maybe the relationship wasn’t in such great shape.
So imagine my surprise when I saw that Brad Pitt is stepping into The Fighter, taking the role that would have been Matt Damon’s. The Fighter stars Mark Wahlberg as boxer Irish Mickey Ward, an amateur fighter who retired before coming back to win a string of unlikely victories. His brother, Dickey, was once also a boxer but became a criminal and ruined his life. That’s the Pitt part, which would have been played by Damon if he hadn’t been booking every waking second between now and the strike.
When I spoke to Damon about The Fighter, he told me the script wasn’t there yet; I imagine it’s on its way, as Massachusetts native Scott Silver is the latest name taking a swipe at it.
I hope that this means that Aronofsky and Pitt have put the events surrounding the first aborted take on The Fountain behind them… and I hope that Pitt sticks this film out to the finish.