Christian Bale to Spar with Mark Wahlberg in "Fighter"

According to Daily Variety, Bale and Wahlberg have signed on to star in David O. Russell's boxing biopic, The Fighter.

Wahlberg will play Mickey Ward, an Irish American boxer who suffers a string of losing bouts when half brother Dicky Eklund--played by Bale--emerges out of prison to help Ward win the lightweight title.

The signing of the two stars comes amid Russell's own string of bad luck. Over the past two years, Fighter has attracted a bevy of Hollywood stars, including Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and Darren Aronofsky. Yet as the film lagged, all three left to do other projects.

The movie is the third such pairing for Russell and Wahlberg, who collaborated with Russell on I Heart Huckabees and Three Kings.

Ward retired from boxing in 1991. Since then, his half-brother Eklund has been struggling with several personal issues--including addiction to crack cocaine and an attempted murder charge in 2006. However, that hasn't prevented the sprinkling of interest in the two. A version of Ward's bout with Arturo Gatti is slated to be featured in the Sony PlayStation series Fight Night Round 3.

The Fighter begins filming in July.