After the success of “Gone Baby Gone,” Ben Affleck’s directorial career was always going to continue, and for the better as well. In an interview with Collider, Affleck has shed light on the details of his next project, an adaptation of Chuck Hogan’s novel “Prince Of Thieves.”
Set in Charlestown, Boston where “there are more armed robbers per capita than anywhere else in the world,” ‘Thieves’ tells the story of a “group of guys who rob a bank and an armored car.”
Not this again, you say? That’s what Affleck predicted you’d think and came up with this pre-emptive defense: “Rather than a heist movie it’s very realistic. You see how the guys really operate and what they really do. It’s about their lives, the connection to one another, and the way that where they live is changing. It’s unusual and kind of complicated for a movie that has a conventional genre at its root.” Let’s hope it’s better than the Boston heist drama, “What Doesn’t Kill You,” which played at TIFF last year and then was buried when the Yari group went belly up.
Tentatively titled “The Town,” Affleck will also star in the film which he describes as a “daunting prospect.” The film is sure to consist of Affleck’s depiction of raw Boston settings and characters, as evident in “Gone Baby Gone.” Unlike his debut though, Affleck will not be adapting the novel himself: “There was an adaptation already – I fooled around with, but it was strong. The author adapted it and it was really good. I’m lucky that it was there.”
Wouldn’t it be cool if Affleck’s brother, Casey Affleck, and childhood friend, Matt Damon joined the project as well? Affleck, of the Ben variety, will next be seen in Mike Judge’s (“Office Space”) “Extract” which has just been given a September 4th release date.