Just when producer Leonardo DiCaprio and the team at Fox thought that the adaptation of John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee novel The Deep Blue Good-By might finally reach screens after years floating in development limbo, along comes a depth charge to once more scupper the progress. Thanks to Christian Bale tearing a knee ligament, the plan to shoot this summer has been scrapped{
James Mangold had been gearing up to roll cameras on the movie starting next month in Florida. He has a script in hand and had been busy rounding up a cast to support Bale that included Peter Dinklage, Rosamund Pike and Nicola Peltz.
But given the action-orientated nature of the story about a salvage consultant who is lured into a mystery surrounding some very dangerous people and a fortune brought back to Florida by a World War II soldier, Bale’s injury means he wouldn’t be able to shoot for months, since apparently he doesn’t have the weirdly miraculous ministerings of The Dark Knight Rises’ prison doctor in real life to have him up and about in days.
There is some debate about what will happen to the movie, according to The Wrap. Some are saying it’ll have to be scrapped altogether, especially since the studio’s other choices – Brad Pitt etc. – were not available. Others think it’ll simply be delayed again until either Bale is recovered enough to handle the action demands or someone else can be found. Either way, right now it means Mangold is likely to channel his energy into the next Wolverine film instead. Talking of...