lindamyers11: Ben And Casey Affleck To Rewrite Yankees Flick 'The Trade'

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Ben And Casey Affleck To Rewrite Yankees Flick 'The Trade'

Brothers confirm to MTV News they're working on 'next draft' for film about two Bronx Bombers who swapped wives in the 1970s.
By Eric Ditzian, with reporting by Josh Horowitz

Ben Affleck
Photo: Phillip Massey/ WireImage

As the New York Yankees celebrate Wednesday's playoff victory, two die-hard Boston Red Sox fans are gearing up to highlight a less glorious moment in Bronx Bombers history.

MTV News has learned that Ben and Casey Affleck — both fervent Sox addicts — will be rewriting "The Trade," the real-life story of two Yankees pitchers who swapped wives in the 1970s.

"My brother and I, it looks like, are going to do the next draft of 'The Trade,' so I'm really excited. I'm going to write it with Casey," Ben recently told us.

The script, originally penned by David Mandel (an executive producer on "Curb Your Enthusiasm"), follows teammates Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich, who revealed during spring training in 1973 that they had traded wives. According to earlier reports, Affleck has his sights on directing the project and starring in the role of Peterson, while Matt Damon would potentially portray Kekich.

At this point, though, Affleck said that specific roles in front of, and behind, the camera have not been sorted out. "I don't know how it will come together — acting, directing, who will do it, but Casey and I decided to write it," he said. "It's one of those things where we don't jump in and go, 'I'm going to do this, you're going to do this.' Let's write it. Let's get it to a point. Dave Mandel did a good draft. Casey and I are going to fool with it and get it to a place we want to get it to. Once the script is ready, then it's, 'Who's doing what, what's the time frame, Matt, me, Casey, directing?' "

In March, when we talked to Damon about the project, he said, "I know Ben's interested in it and I'm dying to work with Ben again. He's a great director and obviously you know what I think of him as a writer."

What Damon wouldn't do at the time was so much as touch a Yankees cap. Affleck, too, is resistant to don any Yankees gear. Yet he admitted that he's come to respect, if not the organization itself, then at least some of the athletes wearing those iconic pinstripes.

"I've come to have a little more respect for the Yankees," he said. "They are good. There are some of those guys that, I have to say, seem like good guys. As an institution, disdain."

What do you think of Red Sox fans Matt and Ben taking on a Yankees-themed film project? Tell us in the comments!

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