A recent report from Screenrant has claimed Ben Affleck’s next directorial project will be Live By Night, a Dennis Lehane adaptation centered around organized crime.
Ben Affleck’s name has been dropped quite a few times in the past 24 hours, mostly concerning the fact that he has been passed over as a Best Director nominee for his latest film, Argo. The young filmmaker has chosen to deal with this knowledge by focusing on his next project: another adaptation from same writer that granted him the successfully riveting storyline for Gone Baby Gone. If you’re not a fan of Gone Baby Gone (God help you) and remain unconvinced, be aware that Dennis Lehane also provided the framework for Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island.
Live By Night will follow Joe Coughlin (played by Affleck), the youngest son of a stellar Boston policeman who grows up to become an employee of the city’s most powerful mobsters during Prohibition stricken America. It’ll be interesting to see how Affleck tackles a period piece older than the 1970’s.
Ben Affleck will write, direct, produce and even star in Live By Night, pushing the project ahead of his rumored adaptation of The Stand and rumored Whitey Bulger biopic with Matt Damon. Unfortunately, progress on The Stand is moving slower than molasses and Affleck feels that Live By Night will be the only thing available to create in the near future.
The young director even dropped out of costarring with Kristen Stewart in Focus, the newest project put together from the directing duo of Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, — whose other films include I Love You Phillip Morris and Crazy, Stupid, Love. — in order to make Live By Night his highest priority.
Here’s what Ben had to say about the project in a recent interview with MTV:
“Basically I’m doing a movie called Live By Night and I’m trying to meet this schedule in order to do it, in order to meet the back end so that I can have it released at the right time, and I just hadn’t gotten enough writing done and it became clear that if I took that job [acting in Focus] and was in Buenos Aires for three months, I was gonna miss the deadline. I had to choose between getting the movie out when I want to or doing this one, so reluctantly I chose the [former]. But I love those guys, I love Kristen, I was really excited to work with her, I think the movie’s gonna be fabulous, and I’m sure they’ll find a great guy for it.”
Ben Affleck has proven to be quite the talent behind the camera and it’s needless to say that we’re excited to see what he can do with Live By Night. Be sure to check back for more updates and information.
