Mark Wahlberg and Matt Damon are set to return to work together in The Fighter, a film about the life of Irish boxer Mickey Ward and his half-brother who also trained him, Dick Ecklund.

Wahlberg is set to play Ward and Damon Ecklund, which I think is rather an interesting choice but also the right one. Wahlberg suits the tougher character, whereas Damon can get his acting chops around the battle with drugs that Ecklund has in his early life.

According to The Hollywood Reporter the story will follow their early lives, Ecklund's drug battle, their struggles to grow up in the rough streets of Lowell in Massachusetts, and the eventual World Championship fight.

Wikipedia have some interesting facts about Ward's career, one is that he hung up his gloves after a series of defeats in the 1990's and didn't return to boxing for some three years. Perhaps it's facts like this that have made the story so attractive to both actors and the production team. Here's his career stats:

Total fights 51, Wins 38, Wins by KO 27, Losses 13, Draws 0, No contests 0

Neither actor have actually committed to the role as yet, they are both awaiting a script rewrite from Paul Attanasio, an executive producer on House, if they like that then they'll sign. Apparently this rewrite is to really pull together the brotherhood bond and the idea of redemption, so this probably is focusing on that three year absence and spectacular return.

Wahlberg is keen to do a boxing film, so I can't really see him ducking out, especially after this comment:

"I've been dying to do a boxing movie my whole career," Wahlberg said in a recent interview. "I've been close to doing two, and they kinda fell apart, but it's something I'm very excited about."

I'm pretty excited to see these two on screen, especially with the characters they've been cast in, it might be a good stretch for both.