Studio Cancels Matthew McConaughey’s Soccer Movie Just Before Filming
For the next film starring Matthew McConaughey, Skydance has shown the red card. Dallas Sting, a feature film in which McConaughey was cast as a female soccer coach, was cancelled by the production firm just six weeks before filming was supposed to begin.
Deadline reports that the project was scrapped when Skydance and the film’s producers were sent “disturbing allegations” about the film’s genuine story. According to reports, Skydance conducted an inquiry into the claims and concluded that they were credible enough to justify cancelling production on the picture in its entirety. The picture has also lost McConaughey, who had previously committed to star in it.
In 1984, as President Reagan sought to improve relations with China, the Dallas Sting women’s soccer team travelled to China to compete in the first ever women’s soccer world championship. Originally, McConaughey was cast in the role of Bill Kinder, a Texan with no prior soccer coaching experience who coached a U.S. squad made up of Dallas high school girls. In the finals against Italy, Kinder’s “The Sting” orchestrated an upset victory over the favoured Italian team.
Kari Skogland, director of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, was supposed to helm the picture based on a scenario written by GLOW creators Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch. An exhaustive search for excellent female soccer players with acting talents was nearly complete, and Dopesick’s Kaitlyn Dever had been cast as McConaughey’s daughter. Skydance and Berlanti Schechter Productions conceived and financed the film. Thanks to their comprehensive agreement with Skydance, Apple was given early access to the film.
Dallas Sting’s filming was supposed to begin in New Orleans this coming October. A source connected to the production informed the Hollywood Reporter that the team was “disappointed by the development” and maintained their belief that “the story of the 1984 team and its young women deserved to be told.”
V.F.’s request for response from Skydance and McConaughey went unanswered for some time.