Just the other day it was announced that Ben Affleck was Warner Brothers’ choice to direct an adaptation of Stephen King‘s epic, The Stand. It seems like that’s not all Ben has on his plate as today it was announced that Affleck is also developing (and directing) another project, which seems much more suited to his current filmography.
Furthermore, Matt Damon has announced that he will star in Affleck’s new film, which is about Boston crime boss Whitey Bulger. Bulger was the inspiration behind Jack Nicholas‘ character in Martin Scorsese‘s The Departed, and was only apprehended by police this year, after being on the FBI’s top ten list for a very long time.
Deadline is reporting that Warner Bros., who seem to be giving Affleck new films every week, will finance the product. Affleck is set to direct, co-star and produce with Damon, who’ll play Bulger.
Ben’s brother, Casey Affleck, will also have a supporting role in the film. The currently untitled Whitey Bulger Biopic is being written by Boardwalk Empire show runner Terrence Winter.
“We’re (Damon and Affleck) doing a Whitey Bulger movie. ” Damon told GQ. “Warner’s got it for us.” If it’s a straight biopic, we’ll do it over a period of time. But it’s always a question of what part of the story do you tell, and biopics are always a little cumbersome,” Damon said. “So do we find another way in? We’re still figuring it out.”
Greg Silverman, Warner Bros Pictures President of Production stated:
“When Ben mentioned this to Jeff and Sarah, they jumped immediately,” said Silverman. “It’s a perfect fit of story with the ideal artists to bring that story to the screen, and it’s so great to be heading back to Boston with Ben and Matt.”
It is unclear when the project will start but hopefully we’ll have more details soon.