An interesting update from Roger Friedman’s 411 site about the recently announced project, “The Trade” — the true story about two New York Yankees pitchers who caused a national scandal by swapping wives in the sexually-free 1970s, which would star Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
Friedman says Damon tells him that the project is “a long way down the road, since no script exists and no one’s sure how to write the saga of teammates who switched wives.” However, screenwriters Brian Koppelman and David Levien (“Oceans 13,” “Rounders”) have been clocking that story for years and collecting information so they could eventually end up writing the film. But right now, it’s just in the early stages.
However, this is odd, considering “The Trade” by Dave Mandel was named #35 on the 2009 Black list.
Does this somehow mean Damon didn’t like the script, but liked the idea and they’ve optioned the script with the intentions of modifying it (it was mentioned in the original report by Deadline)? Or does 411 have his wires crossed in the conversation he had with Damon? (It was at a cocktail party with drinks after all, and Friedman did erroneously report initially that there were only two ‘Bourne’ films so far, and ran his own correction). Hmm, would be interesting to find out. “Ben has always wanted to make that film,” is the only quote he scores from Damon about the project. Thanks to the reader for the tip.
Interesting anecdote: A friend in the know tells us that Richard Linklater was attached to this up until recently. Would make sense. Linklater likes his sports movies, he directed the “Bad News Bears” remake and was offered the “Moneyball” project when Steven Soderbergh’s version was unceremoniously dumped by Sony, but didn’t take it.