Jay Roach Directing Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's Wife Swapping Film, 'The Trade'

In the works for years, The Trade has probably been something of a headache for Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. The duo were originally set to star in the film, a true story involving New York Yankees players Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich, with Casey Affleck co-writing the screenplay. A threatened lawsuit by Kekich slowed things down for awhile, and the project just seemed to run out of gas. But now it is definitely back on with a director in Jay Roach (Game Change), although there is a downside to this news.

Roach will take the mound for the film, which is based on Kekich and Peterson, teammates on the Yankees who announced during spring training 1973 that they were swapping families. They had been swapping wives for years and fell in love with the other's partner, a situation that caused quite a scandal as you can imagine. The trade didn't work out so well for one of them, either. Unfortunately, Affleck and Damon's busy schedules have forced them to drop out of the lead roles and simply exec-produce.

While the casting change is disappointing, Roach is a versatile director and perhaps the perfect choice for this particular story. [Variety]

Read More