Christian Bale’s recent injury will force 20th Century Fox to delay its long-gestating film adaptation of John D. MacDonald’s The Deep Blue Good-by once again. There’s even a possibility that the studio could give up on the film completely.
News of the delay was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter, which noted that Bale recently tore his ACL just before he was supposed to start filming Paramount’s The Big Short. That project isn’t physically demanding, so he will be able to make that after recovering. However, Deep Blue is much more intensive and features action sequences.
Filming was supposed to start in May in Florida and Puerto Rico. James Mangold is directing, but Deadline reports that he will now get to work on Wolverine 3 with Hugh Jackman first.
The rest of the cast includes Peter Dinklage and Nicola Peltz. Rosamund Pike was also linked to it in February.
Deep Blue is the first of 21 books by MacDonald about “salvage consultant” Travis McGee. The project has been in the works for years and was once set to star Leonardo DiCaprio before Bale joined in July 2014.
THR’s sources say that the project could end up killed or the shoot rescheduled for later this year. But Bale has other projects on the docket, which could force the studio to find a new star if it really wants to make it.
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