Director David O. Russell is no stranger to on-set confrontations (allegedly), but now he's in talks to direct a film about a professional bar-room brawler, in The Grackle, with Matthew McConaughey set to star. It's not yet confirmed whether McConaughey will have to take his shirt off during one of the fight scenes, but the smart money says yes.
The story, described as a "raucous comedy" more in line with, say, The Wedding Crashers than Failure to Launch and probably R-rated in the States (usually a 15 here), sees McConaughey play a barroom fighter in New Orleans who hires himself out for $250 a time to settle disputes for people who can't afford a lawyer. Harsh language and quick fists are his weapons of choice, which somehow seems like a role that would suit McConaughey's impish side. The script, by Mike Arnold and Chris Poole, prompted a bidding war on its completion two years ago, which is promising.
Russell has just finished production on Nailed, his budget-problem-plagued drama with Jessica Biel and Jake Gyllenhaal. Let's hope, for the sake of his blood pressure, that this one goes much more smoothly.