Currently experiencing a rare peak in his career after the impressive success that was Gone Baby Gone, Ben Affleck is sticking with his director’s hat for his next project, albeit with a bit of screenwriting and acting chucked in for good measure.
Warner Bros has tagged Affleck to rewrite, direct and star in a big-screen adaptation of Chuck Hogan's novel The Prince Of Thieves, which will be produced under the title of The Town – probably to stop people getting it confused with Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood flick.
The project, which originally had Unfaithful’s Adrian Lyne slated as director, will find Affleck playing a career criminal who falls in love with the manager of the last bank he robbed, while trying to evade the suspicions of a dogged FBI agent and planning an audacious robbery at Boston’s legendary Fenway Park baseball stadium.
It’s all sounding rather Out Of Sight meets The Fugitive with a bit of romance chucked in for good measure and, if that hasty assumption is correct, it could be the perfect vehicle for Affleck.
Once Mr Ben has sorted out the latest screenplay draft (the original of which was co-authored by Hogan and Peter Craig), he’ll be off to his familiar turf of Charlestown, Massachusetts, the spiritual home of Gone Baby Gone and Good Will Hunting, to start filming.
We’ll give you all the latest info on this project as we get it.