Matthew McConaughey was set to star in a film based on the historic Dallas Sting soccer team. Now, that movie has been suddenly canned by the production company.
News of the movie's cancellation comes six weeks from the start of production in New Orleans, according to Deadline. Skydance and the movie's producers were made aware of an "impropriety" and other "allegations" that caused the movie to be pulled.
Dallas Sting was a movie about a Dallas-based girls soccer team that made headlines in the 1908s as the first American soccer team to win a major international tournament. McConaughey was set to play "Bill Kinder," a "Rocky-esque" underdog from Oklahoma who has never coached a soccer team before. The movie was to be directed by Kari Skogland, the director for the upcoming Cleopatra biopic staring Gal Gadot.
The Dallas Sting, founded in 1973, are the country's first and oldest all-girls soccer club, WFAA reported. It was the first women's team to travel outside the U.S. in 1976 and then became the first American girls soccer team to play in Europe. They were also the only American team invited to compete in the Women's World Invitational Tournament two years later. Adding to the team's accolades, the Dallas Sting represented the U.S. in the first-ever women's FIFA tournament — and won. Four players were invited to join the USWNT roster in 1991 for the inaugural FIFA Women's World Cup. Today, The Sting is still active — tournaments and showcases are prevalent in Texas, as well as youth soccer divisions across the U.S.