Bad News For THE DEEP BLUE GOODBYE

In a perfect world, Christian Bale and director James Mangold would have started production on their adaptation of John D. MacDonald’s The Deep Blue Goodbye (or Good-by, depending on how devoted you are to source material). They would work, then have BBQ’s, then talk deep into the night about their deepest feelings and insecurities, then work again until the movie was complete.

But this is not a perfect world. Production on the film has been halted due to an injury Bale suffered to his knee. Since he doesn’t have one of those magical leg brace things from The Dark Knight Rises, this injury means he can’t make beach bum action movies for a while.

Whether the film is scrapped altogether or not remains up in the air. Bale won’t be ready for several months. He and Mangold are busy fellows, so scheduling is likely to become a very large hurdle. They could replace Christian Bale, try to wait for him, or just forget this whole thing ever happened. We’ll just have to wait and see.