Fox Searchlight wearing ‘Crazy Heart’ on its sleeve?

RiskyBusiness says Fox Searchlight may be planning to pull a last minute jackrabbit out of its cowboy hat. Not to be outdone by cringe-inducing labels like the Jewish Precious, Crazy Heart is being called the Country-Western Wrestler.

After the lukewarm response to one-time hopeful ‚ÄúAmelia‚Äù (not to mention boxoffice doldrums for young-skewing comedies ‚ÄúWhip It!‚Äù and ‚ÄúGentlemen Broncos‚Äù), the specialty division may be making a fall push for ‚ÄúCrazy Heart,‚Äù the country-music drama starring Jeff Bridges…

Company reps aren’t formally saying if there’s a calendar move or awards-push in the offing. But given how much Searchlight has been a fixture on the Oscar circuit the past few years (best pic noms or wins three straight years) — and how high expectations are for this pic (execs have been buzzing about it to reporters for several months), it would almost be odd if they didn’t (assuming the movie is deemed ready, of course — which is likely exactly the point of Wednesday’s screening).

The content of the film: Scott Cooper makes his directional debut with “Crazy Heart,” which is based on Thomas Cobb’s novel and centers on a washed-up country singer (Bridges) who gets his life back on track thanks to the help of a female reporter, and a close but complicated relationship with a younger country star.

Searchlight has scheduled screenings this week to gauge reaction. We’ll assume from the production video above that Colin Farrell is the younger country star. Crazy Heart also stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and Robert Duvall and boasts original songs by T-Bone Burnett who’s doing double-duty as one of its producers. Since Jeff Bridges will be wrangling another western accent this time next year in the Coen brothers’ remake of True Grit, it makes sense to put some distance between the two performances. Good strategy for Fox Searchlight to stay in the game? WWDA? What Would the Dude Abide?