Ben Affleck's next directorial effort after Argo heats up with Zoe Saldana, Elle FAnning, and Sienna Miller joining the cast.
When stepping into the seedy and dizzying world of Dennis Lehane (author of the books Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone, and Shutter Island), one expects wise guys, tough guys, and guys who just need to be put down. Yet, sometimes what is overlooked is his ability to write equally strong female characters, such as three intriguing personalities that dotted his last literary period drama, the Prohibition-set Live by Night.
However, as Ben Affleck’s adaptation of the crime drama heats up, fans of Lehane now have some very well known faces to put next to Graciela Suarez, Emma Gould, and Loretta Figgis. As it has been reported, first by Deadline, that Zoe Saldana, Sienna Miller, and Elle Fanning have been cast in those roles, respectively.
Easily the most interesting Affleck project on the horizon past Gone Girl, Live by Night marks Affleck’s first directorial effort since his Best Picture winning Argo and his second Lehane adaptation after the haunting Gone Baby Gone. The movie will focus on Joe Coughlin, the black sheep of a family that’s legacy spans past this sole novel/film and into the stunning Bostonian epic set during the police strike of 1919, as chronicled in The Given Day. Joe is the odd man out of his illustrious police family, instead drifting into booze, vice, and assorted organized crime as he works his way up the racket as a romantic “outlaw.” Along the way, his lifestyle is challenged when he meets Emma Gould (Miller), a femme fatale with whom he falls madly in love with.
The story eventually also crosses into the Florida Keys where bootlegging from Cuba has become all the rage. It is there Saldana’s Graciela will also play a major role. Elle Fanning meanwhile has been cast in the apparently highly coveted role of Loretta, a police captain’s daughter whose hard life will come to directly affect Joe’s.
A hard-hitting potboiler that covers a lot of years in its remarkably brisk pace, Live by Night stands to make an interesting project that Affleck seems to be unable to shake.
Previously, Affleck set aside directing the film to star as Batman in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, but he has again returned to the material, and it appears to be coming together quickly at this point. It is currently unclear whether Affleck still intends to play the role of Joe Coughlin.
The book from which Live by Night sprang from, that massive The Given Day, is a literary epic of a scale that is difficult to imagine fitting into three hours, however, we would love to see a great filmmaker try at a certain point. Previously, Sam Raimi ascertained the film rights for The Given Day, but let them expire after years of development hell. The rights now reside at Warner Bros. along with Live by Night.
Lehane is currently giving screenwriting itself a try as he has scripted this month’s upcoming The Drop and is developing a Shutter Island spin-off at HBO with Martin Scorsese, entitled Ashecliffe.
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