Back during the wild days of Law Abiding Citizen, I asked Gerard Butler 19 questions about his ab routine and 1 question about his upcoming projects. This is what he had to say:

“There’s a few different projects that we’ve been working on, but there’s one in particular – it’s a movie called Slide about a former baseball player who goes back to try and patch things up with his child and estranged wife and ends up coaching the kid’s baseball team.

He becomes the subject of fascination and longer by every bored house wife in the town. And it’s him trying to survive that while trying to patch things up with his kid.

I think we’re going to have Gabriele Muccino direct the movie. Hopefully. We’re in talks with him, and he’s very much up for directing it so we’ll what happens there.”

Go ahead and read that again, but replace the word “baseball” with “soccer.” It works because they both involve sliding.

In its reduced form, it sounds like “Eastbound and Down” meets Kicking and Screaming with a charming lead. Apparently the film is being reworked to focus on soccer, although no real reason was given. Perhaps it’s the dearth of soccer films. Perhaps its rising popularity. Perhaps it’s because Butler is Scottish and baseball continues to wane in importance here in America what with all the asterisks you have to keep up with now. [LA Times]