Matt Damon Developing Movie Based On Infamous Murder Suspect Karen Read, Accused Of Killing Boston Cop Boyfriend With SUV: “Very Early Days”

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck‘s production company, Artists Equity, is going to make a feature film based on the sensational national news story focused on the Karen Read murder case, according to new statements Damon made earlier in the month.

Speaking with the morning show “Live with Kelly & Mark” last week (spotted by NBC Boston 10 and E!), Damon confirmed he was developing a feature based on the infamous murder case, which had prosecutors alleging that Read had murdered her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, by running him over with her SUV and leaving him there in the snow to die.

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“I’m developing a movie at the company about it,” Damon told the morning show, adding the project isn’t going into production anytime soon, “very early days.” Co-host Kelly Rippa is volunteering to help develop the gestating film project, as a close follower of the murder case, which, as you’d imagine, captivated the true-crime crowd because of the oddness and complexities of the murder trial.

Spoiler: Read was found not guilty of the second-degree murder and manslaughter charges. However, he was in fact convicted of operating a vehicle under the influence (OUI) and given a one-year prohibition, which is odd and a slap on the wrist since that normally doesn’t excuse someone from committing manslaughter (we assume she could have been still convicted for vehicular manslaughter regardless of being intoxicated or not).

Anyways, it certainly sounds like some meaty Boston true-crime material, as Damon and Affleck have tackled the subject over the years via “The Town,” “Gone Baby Gone,” and the former playing a big role in Martin Scorsese’s “The Departed” (a Boston-set remake of the Hong Kong undercover cop thriller “Infernal Affairs“). It’s unclear who will be writing, directing (Affleck feels like a solid contender), and starring in the Karen Read project. Personally, we could envision a reunion between Affleck and Rosmund Pike after co-starring in the David Fincher twisty thriller “Gone Girl,” but wouldn’t be opposed to a Damon and Emily Blunt reunion either after working together on the Christopher Nolan-directed Oscar-winner “Oppenheimer.”

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As stated, it’s early days, so we’re spit-balling plausible casting ideas for who could potentially inhabit the roles of O’Keefe and Karen Read, granted we likely won’t know more information for months to come.