Wahlberg, Damon step into ring
Paramount fast-tracks 'Fighter'
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Studio has fast-tracked "The Fighter," a drama about boxer "Irish" Micky Ward's unlikely road to the world lightweight title. His Rocky-like rise was shepherded by half-brother Dicky, a boxer-turned-trainer who rebounded in life after nearly being KO'd by drugs and crime.
Mandeville's David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman will produce.
"House" exec producer Paul Attanasio is working on a rewrite that will be completed within two weeks. If they like the script, Wahlberg and Damon will commit, and each will make "The Fighter" his next film. Shooting will begin in early summer in Massachusetts.
Attanasio, who recently adapted John Steinbeck's "East of Eden" for Imagine, is rewriting a draft by Lewis Collick. Eric Johnson and Paul Tamasy penned the original script. Emphasis in the rewrite is on the themes of brotherhood and redemption.
Like the Ward brothers, Wahlberg and Damon are both Massachusetts natives, and they have met several times about "The Fighter." Wahlberg, who's up for a supporting actor Oscar for "The Departed," is about to open in Paramount thriller "The Shooter" and recently wrapped "We Own the Night" for 2929 Prods. and Universal. Damon just wrapped "Ocean's Thirteen" and "The Bourne Ultimatum."
Wahlberg and Damon are repped by Endeavor, and Wahlberg's managed by Leverage.
