en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fighter
2 corrections found
Production proceeded with filming set to begin October 2008 and Christian Bale replaced Brad Pitt.
Christian Bale was not reported as joining the film for an October 2008 production. Bale and David O. Russell were announced in April 2009, with shooting then due to start in July.
Full reasoning
This sentence compresses the production timeline in a way that makes it inaccurate.
Reliable reporting from April 21, 2009 says Christian Bale and David O. Russell had just joined The Fighter at that point, and that the film was then due to start shooting in July. The AFI Catalog likewise notes that a 21 Apr 2009 trade report said Relativity had stepped in as financier and was negotiating deals with Russell and Bale.
That means Bale was not already in place for an October 2008 shoot. The replacement of Brad Pitt by Christian Bale happened later, in 2009, after the earlier 2008 production plans had fallen apart.
2 sources
- Christian Bale enters The Fighter ring - The Guardian
Published April 21, 2009: “Christian Bale and director David O Russell have joined the long-gestating boxing drama The Fighter ...” and “The Fighter is due to start shooting in July.”
- AFI Catalog - The Fighter
The AFI Catalog notes that a 21 Apr 2009 trade item reported Relativity Media had stepped in as full financier and that it was negotiating deals with Russell and Bale.
By then Aronofsky had dropped out to work on MGM's RoboCop (2014), followed by Black Swan (2010).
This gets Aronofsky’s chronology wrong. Reporting at the time says he left The Fighter in favor of The Wrestler, and when RoboCop later stalled because of MGM’s troubles, he went on to make Black Swan instead.
Full reasoning
This sentence misstates Darren Aronofsky’s sequence of projects.
- A contemporaneous GamesRadar feature on the film’s development says Aronofsky departed The Fighter in favor of his own The Wrestler.
- Later, a Los Angeles Times report on the troubled RoboCop remake said Aronofsky had been attached to RoboCop for years, but MGM’s financial problems stalled it, and he then went off and made Black Swan instead.
So the timeline was The Wrestler, then Black Swan after RoboCop stalled — not Aronofsky dropping The Fighter to do RoboCop, “followed by Black Swan,” as if that were the completed sequence.
2 sources
- The Story Behind The Fighter - GamesRadar+
The article states: “But then Aronofsky departed, favouring his own The Wrestler over Wahlberg’s boxing yarn.”
- RoboCop firing again with 'Elite Squad' director Jose Padilha - Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times reported on March 1, 2011: “Darren Aronofsky was attached to a ‘RoboCop’ project for several years, but with MGM’s financial troubles stymying the project in development, he went off and made ‘Black Swan’ instead.”