Blake Lively is not the first person who comes to mind when you think of an MMA fighter, though she did fight a shark (with the help of a seagull) in The Shallows last year. But she'll be taking on a much less aquatic challenge for Bruised.
Nick Cassavetes is aboard to direct Michelle Rosenfarb's script, which tells the story of Jackie, a single mother trying to make ends meet working two jobs and still haunted by her disgraced Mixed Martial Arts career. And then a new challenge arises when the authorities threaten to take her son away from her. Lacking other ways to drum up the money she needs to sort her life out, she heads back into the cage for one last chance.
It could be a familiar story, though we're hoping Cassavetes and the script bring something fresh to it once the cameras start rolling in September.
This would make Lively's next project following the aforementioned Shallows and her roles in Cafe Society and Marc Forster drama All I See Is You, which has been stuck in release limbo and will finally hit the US on 15 September, but doesn't seem to have a date for the UK yet.