Gerard Butler has finally found some competition on the footie field, so he better make sure his trainers are tied tight.
Blackfilm reports that Dennis Quaid has joined “Playing The Field,” a soccer comedy starring Butler, Uma Thurman and Jessica Biel. Set to be directed by Gabriel Muccino (”Seven Pounds,” “The Pursuit of Happyness”), the film centers around Butler, playing a troubled father and former semi-pro soccer player, who tries to make up for lost time by coaching his son’s team. He ends up in trouble when he gets involved with some of the local soccer moms. Biel will play Butler’s ex-wife who is engaged to be married, while Thurman will play a woman on the prowl for Butler. Quaid will play a rival soccer coach. The project actually originated as a baseball story called “Confessions of a Little League Coach” but was reconfigured in a way that will clearly give it much more international appeal.
Lensing on the picture begins this month in Shreveport, Louisiana and we’d guess you can look for it in theaters next year. It actually sounds like a pretty fun, lightweight premise but we just hope that the script from Robbie Fox (”So I Married An Axe Murderer,” “In the Army Now”) isn’t reflective of his past credits. Once Butler wraps up his duties on this pic, he’ll move over to Curtis Hanson‘s gestating surfing pic “Mavericks” while Muccino will head over to “Adaline” in early 2012.