His latest film – I, Frankenstein – took something of a beating from both critics and the box office results, but perhaps that's just helping Aaron Eckhart get in some early training for a future project, signing onto a boxing biopic called Bleed For This that will also star Miles Teller{
With Boiler Room writer-director Ben Younger once more scripting and calling the shots, Bleed For This will chart the real-life story of slugger Vinnie Pazienza, who broke his neck in three places in a traffic accident in 1991 while he was at the peak of his career. Against doctors’ orders, Pazienza returned to the gym with his neck still encased in a metal halo, began working out and eventually won three more titles and went on to retire with a 50-10 record. The film boasts Martin Scorsese – no stranger himself to boxing biopics – as executive producer.
Despite his fondness for roles where he gets physical, Eckhart will be playing Pazienza’s trainer this time, with Teller starring as the boxer himself. As is common for films around this time, the news is out because the project is headed for the European Film Market at Berlin, where it’ll be looking for distributors.
Eckhart will be hoping to bounce back from the monster disappointment with the Blumhouse horror Incarnate. He’s also set to reprise his Olympus Has Fallen role as President Benjamin Archer in London Has Fallen. Teller, a rising star, has rom-com That Awkward Moment on screens here now, and will be seen in Divergent and Two Night Stand. He’s also been winning acclaim for Sundance favourite Whiplash, which should hit our screens sometime this year.