James Mangold’s The Deep Blue Good-By In Troubled Waters Following Christian Bale Injury

Just when Fox thought it was safe to go back into the water and drag the cinematic adaptation of John D. MacDonald’s The Deep Blue Good-By from the depths of development limbo, a knee injury to leading star Christian Bale has forced the studio to scrap plans for a summer shoot, casting doubt over the project’s immediate future.

The Wolverine‘s James Mangold had been attached to direct the maritime thriller and it looked as though this was the property’s best chance to finally leap from the pages onto the silver screen, having assembled a star-studded line-up that included the likes of Peter Dinklage, Rosamund Pike and Transformers: Age of Extinction‘s Nicola Peltz.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Deep Blue Good-By was to be a physically intensive shoot, with Bale stepping into the role of a self-proclaimed salvage consultant who finds himself thrust into a dire situation surrounded by some of Florida’s most dangerous thugs. The report goes on to reveal that the finale of the movie would have seen The Dark Knight Rises star engage in an intense fight scene, jumping from boat to boat as he evaded a number of pursuers. Not the kind of scene that best suits an actor suffering from a knee ligament injury.

Fox and Mangold may not be ready to bid adieu to The Deep Blue Good-By just yet, though, with the official word being that the project has been hit with a slight delay. However, with the filmmaker now poised to move onto direct his Wolverine follow-up first before circling back to the maritime thriller, it’s unlikely that Bale will still be available when the time comes.