After a spectacular show in
The Departed Boston actors Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg will now come together for a biopic of Massachusetts boxer 'Irish' Micky Ward, titled
The Fighter.
Wahlberg will play the lead role of Ward, while Damon is believed to have signed on to play the boxer's half-brother Danny Ecklund, a reformed drug addict and criminal who later trains Ward to fight against the best of the boxing world. Ward won three New England Golden Gloves titles before he took up professional boxing, but quit the scene in early 1990s.
Later, he made a spectacular return in 1994, winning against established boxers like Arturo Gatti, Emanuel Burton, Antonio Diaz and several others. Ward's 2002 bout with Gatti was labeled the 'fight of the century'.
The Fighter will track Ecklund and Ward through their turbulent early days when the former is jailed and the latter was battling boxing defeats. After his release, Ecklund gave up his wild ways and persuaded his half-brother Ward to take up boxing once again, a decision that catapulted the boxer into the boxing hall of fame.
The script of the film is being written by Paul Attanasio and shooting is scheduled to begin sometime this year. The director for the film is yet to be confirmed.
For now, Damon is busy wrapping up the production of
Margaret and
Ocean's Thirteen, while Wahlberg is working on
Shooter, where he plays a sniper for the US Army.
Earlier in 2006, 35-year-old Wahlberg played footballer Vince Papale in his biopic
Invincible and had expressed his desire to act in a boxing film. His critically-acclaimed role in
The Departed won him an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor.
