Yee-ouch. So there’s a fun history between Brad Pitt and Darren Aronofsky: back during pre-production of The Fountain, Pitt was all set to be the meta-time spanning doctor searching for the Fountain of Youth in 2002. Pitt bailed at the last minute, taking most of the studio funding with him, and went to star in Troy instead.  Of course, The Fountain eventually got made, but Warner Brothers never knew how to market what should’ve been an art-house film.

Cut to this year: amends were to be made and Brad Pitt would co-star in The Fighter with Mark Wahlberg. Only, history repeats itself once more according to Entertainment Weekly. No reason is given, but looking over Pitt’s upcoming schedule, one can’t help but speculate Pitt is ignoring the “arthouse” for something a bit more commercial–namely Quentin Tarintino’s Inglorious Basterds.

Of course, that’s all speculation. The Fighter is in pre-production with Wahlberg still firmly attached, but now may not be the time to cross Aronofsky, since The Wrestler has been wowing everybody and anybody since Cannes and the New York Film Festival.