Matt fights out

Damon punches out

Matt Damon‘s out, and Brad Pitt‘s in. That’s the latest on Darren Aronofsky‘s highly anticipated pugilist pic “The Fighter.” Apparently because of a scheduling conflict, Damon has bowed out of the big-budget boxing flick, in which he was to play trainer Dick Ecklund to Mark Wahlberg‘s “Irish” Micky Ward. Based on the brothers’ true story, the film will chronicle the duo’s rough-and-tumble early days in Lowell. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Scott Silver, whose credits include the gritty “8 Mile” and “The Mod Squad,” is rewriting the script.

Variety offers guide to Matt’s life

Speaking of Damon, Variety’s Peter Bart cautions the Cambridge-bred actor not to take himself too seriously. The trade’s editor in chief writes in this week’s issue that the “Bourne” star risks becoming boring if he continues to avoid the spotlight so assiduously. “Does it represent a response to the Owen Wilson-Lindsay Lohan school of self-destructiveness? . . . Living in denial seems mildly pathological, Matt.” In conclusion, Bart recommends Damon consider living more like, say, George Clooney. “Brando is so not today’s role model, either in terms of behavior or heft.”

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