Christian Bale to star in 'Out of the Furnace', from director Scott Cooper

Scott Cooper may have hit it big with 2009's Crazy Heart, but it's doubtful anybody knows his name. The success of that film belonged almost entirely to Jeff Bridges, who justifiably won Best Actor for his role as a hard drinking country music cliche. Since then, Cooper has put his name to a number of projects, with none of them getting off the ground yet. Now three years later he appears to be making some serious headway on one of them, with Christian Bale taking the lead in Out of the Furnace.

Cooper took the job last year, but we haven't heard much on it since, but with Bale attached it's going to have a lot of eyes on it.  Set in 1986, Bale will play an ex-con who puts his plans to marry his girlfriend aside to seek revenge on the men who killed his brother.  The film is described as a gritty throwback to the hardcore thrillers of the 1970s and early 80s, based on Brad Inglesby's script titled The Low Dweller. 

Sticking with a familiar face, Cooper is looking to his Crazy Heart co-star, Robert Duvall, for a role. With Leonardo Dicaprio and Ridley Scott's production companies on board, a number of big names are circling this one. Viggo Mortensen is being eyed for the villain role. Casey Affleck, Taylor Kitch, Channing Tatum, and Garrett Hedlund are being looked at for the role of Bale's brother. All of this is going to depend on Bale's signing on the dotted line, which is expected to happen soon.

Variety notes that Bale was approached about starring in this awhile back, but due to his shooting two Terrence Malick movies this year, it wasn't clear how it could work out. The plan is for filming to begin on Out of the Furnace right after Lawless wraps, and before Knight of Cups begins in September. Good deal.

For Bale, he really seems to be flexing his acting muscles now that his  Batman days are over. He can currently be seen in The Flowers of War, which is being largely ignored by...well, everyone. The Dark Knight Rises puts an end to Christopher Nolan's trilogy on July 20th 2012. [THR]