Skydance has decided to completely cancel its upcoming movie Dallas Sting, following allegations regarding the true story upon which it is based. The news was broken on Wednesday, with outlets (including The Hollywood Reporter) revealing that the project was only six weeks away from filming in New Orleans and had already been mostly cast, with Matthew McConaughey set in the starring role. It is unclear at this point exactly what the allegations are, but the report says that Skydance and the film’s producers received “disturbing allegations surrounding aspects of the true story on which the drama was based.”
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Dallas Sting was set to tell the true story of a 1984 Dallas girls soccer team that traveled to China and, against the odds, defeated some of the best women’s teams in the world from China, Australia, Japan, and Italy. The film would have been set amid the backdrop of President Ronald Reagan’s attempts to strengthen the United States and China’s relations. McConaughey was set to play the team’s coach, Bill Kinder, who led the rag-tag group of Texas teens toward a Rocky-esque destiny.ย Booksmart‘s Kaitlyn Dever lined up to play his daughter. Other potential cast members are currently unknown at this time.
The project would have been directed by The Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘s Kari Skogland, with a script from GLOW creators Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, and Berlanti Schechter Productions producing alongside Skydance. Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and Robbie Rogers were all attached as producers. The film would have been based on an unpublished article written by Flinder Boyd.
In real life, the Dallas Sting were the first and oldest all-girls soccer club, operating out of Richardson, Texas in 1973. Borrowing their name from the 1973 Robert Redford movie The Sting, the group was eventually selected by the U.S. Soccer Federation in 1984 to represent the country in the first ever women’s national FIFA tournament. According to WFAA, The Sting Soccer organization reportedly still operates to this day, holding tournaments and youth soccer divisions throughout Texas and other southern states.
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