Ben Affleck to Write, Direct, and Star in The Town

[Dark Donnie]

Ben Affleck to Write, Direct and Star in The Town

Posted on Monday, September 15th, 2008 at 7:41 pm by: Peter Sciretta

Warner Bros has hired Ben Affleck to rewrite, direct and star in a big screen adaptation of the Chuck Hogan novel The Prince of Thieves. The film adaptation will be released under the title The Town. The project was originally set up with Unfaithful director Adrian Lyne. Affleck will do a rewrite on the latest screenplay draft which was co-authored by Peter Craig and Chuck Hogan. Affleck will play a career thief who falls in love with the manager of a bank he robbed.

The film is set in Charlestown, MA, which might further explain Affleck’s interest/involvement. I, like many others, was extremely impressed by Affleck’s directorial debut Gone Baby Gone. And you can’t forget that he also won an academy award for co-writing the screenplay for Good Will Hunting.

The official description of the book follows: The men wear masks. Their guns are drawn on the bank manager. She nervously recites the alarm code, and the tumblers within the huge vault fall. The timing and execution are brilliant. It could be the perfect heist. But as the huge sum of cash is stolen, so too is one man’s heart — and that man is the Prince of Thieves…

Charlestown, a blue-collar Boston neighborhood, produces more bank robbers and armored car thieves than any square mile in the world. In this gripping, intricately plotted thriller, Claire Keesey, the branch manager for a Boston bank and one of an influx of young professionals chipping away at the neighborhood’s insularity, is taken hostage during a robbery. She is released, but Doug MacRay, the brains behind the tough, tight-knit crew of thieves, can’t get her out of his mind. Tracking her down without his mask and gun, Doug introduces himself, and as soon as he and Claire meet, their mutual attraction is undeniable — as are the risks of a relationship.

Meanwhile, Doug’s crew pulls off another audacious, meticulously planned job. Frustrated by their ingenuity and brazen ambition, FBI Agent Adam Frawley begins to zero in on Doug and his pals — and against his own better judgment, he, too, develops more than a professional interest in Claire.

Under pressure from Frawley’s ever-closer investigation, Doug imagines a life for himself away from bank robberies and Charlestown. But before that can happen, the crew learns that there may be a way to rob Boston’s venerable baseball stadium, Fenway Park. It’s a magnificently dangerous and utterly irresistible opportunity — yet for Doug, pursuing his former hostage may be the most dangerous act of all…

Chuck Hogan’s brash tale of four men — thieves, rivals, friends — being hunted through the streets of Boston by a tenacious FBI agent, and the woman who may destroy them all, is a spectacular, stylish, heart-pounding thriller.

http://www.slashfilm.com/

Sounds cool.

 

[Movies205]

It is nice to see Affleck having a career comeback albeit in a different form then he once was I was not a huge fan of Gone Baby Gone however visually as well as a film it had a certain feel that set it above the rest, so I look forward to this.

 

[Zephyr Alexian]

Yeah, he did an incredible job on Gone Baby Gone; I was very impressed. I never would've expected him to have that type of film in him.

I liked his performance in Hollywoodland; he'll need more like that to remind people that he did win an Oscar. It wasn't for acting, nevertheless, he can produce when he tries. Hopefully he doesn't just take a check to do crap like Bounce anymore.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Gone Baby Gone was the 2nd best movie of 2007 IMO and I'm really pleased to see Affleck getting in the chair again. The story for this sounds great as well.

 

[Cinemaman]

GBG is on my top list, so I am looking forward to see what Affleck does with this one

 

[scifiwolf]

I'm wondering if he's going to move away from directing these Boston-set movies. I imagine it's just a comfort-zone sort of thing while he's getting used to being in the director's chair. Either way, I'm glad to see he's doing well.

 

[dude stannis]

Good luck Mr. Affleck. I've yet to see Gone Baby Gone but he was spectacular in Hollywoodland.

 

[odiin]

Does he HAVE to act in this?

 

[The Guard]

I thought that said ON THE TOWN. I am no longer interested.

 

[Zephyr Alexian]

I'm wondering if he's going to move away from directing these Boston-set movies. I imagine it's just a comfort-zone sort of thing while he's getting used to being in the director's chair. Either way, I'm glad to see he's doing well.

Good input; I'd like to see him challenge himself by traveling to other locations as well.

 

[Hunter Rider]

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=57533

Hamm and Hall Join Ben Affleck's Town
Source: Variety
July 28, 2009


Variety says that Jon Hamm and Rebecca Hall will star with Ben Affleck in The Town, the Warner Bros./Legendary Pictures adaptation of the Chuck Hogan novel.

Affleck is directing, and playing a bank robber who becomes smitten with the teller of a bank he held up. She makes him want to go straight, but she is also the FBI's golden ticket to catching Boston's most wanted bank robber.

Hamm plays the FBI agent who also becomes infatuated with the bank employee, played by Hall.

Affleck rewrote the draft by Peter Craig and Hogan. The film will shoot next month in Boston, where Affleck filmed his directorial debut Gone Baby Gone.

 

[Rac]

Affleck directing again:

 

[Raiden]

Sounds like it could be a good movie. Affleck can show that GBG was no fluke, and if this does well again I think he'd have a great future ahead as a director.

 

[cerealkiller182]

definitely interested. I rooting for Affleck's directing career

 

[Hunter Rider]

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=58403

Blake Lively Joins Affleck's The Town

Source:The Hollywood Reporter
August 26, 2009

Blake Lively ("Gossip Girl") has joined the ensemble cast that Ben Affleck is assembling for his crime thriller The Town, which he is directing for Warner Bros. and Legendary, says The Hollywood Reporter.

Chris Cooper is in negotiations to also board the movie.

Affleck, Jon Hamm, Rebecca Hall and Jeremy Renner already are cast in the adaptation of Chuck Hogan's novel "Prince of Thieves."

The story follows a bank manager (Hall), the career criminal (Affleck) who stole more than her heart and the dedicated FBI agent (Hamm) trying to bust the crook and his gang, of which Renner is a part.

Lively is playing Renner's sister and Affleck's troubled ex-girlfriend. Cooper would play Affleck's father. Shooting begins next month in Boston.

 

[cerealkiller182]

Lively isnt that exciting of an addition considering Affleck already got Hall and Renner, both to of the better (relatively) new talents.

 

[Dark Donnie]

Set Pics

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[Nightmare]

Cool, I loved GBG. Lookin forward to this.

 

[Gotham]

I loved the book. Renner's the perfect choice for Jem.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Movie Trailer: Ben Affleck’s The Town

 

[Hunter Rider]

Looks like Ben is upping his game again, it clearly exists in the same world as Gone Baby Gone but he seems to be pushing himself further with the myriad of relationships and characters as well as the action, can't wait.

 

[TheComicbookKid]

This looks amazing.


Hamm!

 

[Bunker]

Is he ever going to do a movie not set in Boston?

Anyway...surprised at how ****ing good the cast is. Can't wait.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Bank robbers posing as nuns?

Whoa! That's new!