Carrie Coon, Alessandro Nivola, And Chris Cooper Will Star In Boston Strangler

Keira Knightley won't be facing the Boston Strangler alone. Carrie Coon, Alessandro Nivola, and Chris Cooper have all signed on to join her in the upcoming "Boston Strangler" movie from 20th Century Studios.

Deadline reports that production on the film, based on the real-life murders that shook the Boston area during the 1960s, will begin on location in the city next month. Knightley will play Loretta McLaughlin, "the first reporter to connect the murders and break the story of the Strangler." The movie will depict how "she and fellow reporter Jean Cole challenged the sexism of the early 1960s to report on the city's most notorious serial killer and worked tirelessly to keep women informed."

Cole was the maiden name and byline of Jean Harris, according to her 2015 obituary in the Boston Herald. While this casting report doesn't specifically state that Coon is playing her, it seems reasonable to assume that may be the case.

Coon's first feature film was David Fincher's "Gone Girl," and since "Boston Strangler" will show how McLaughlin "pursued the story at great personal risk and uncovered corruption that cast doubt on the true identity of the Boston Strangler," the comparisons between it and Fincher's "Zodiac" seem inevitable.

Nivola can currently be seen in "The Many Saints of Newark." He also made an impression as the toxic Sensei in Riley Stearns' "The Art of Self-Defense." Cooper's most recent credits include Jon Stewart's directorial debut, "Irresistible," and season 2 of Amazon's "Homecoming."

Back in 2014, the year Coon broke out in "The Leftovers" and "Gone Girl," we heard about another Boston Strangler movie that was in development, with Casey Affleck attached to star and Mark Romanek in talks to direct. Affleck grew up in the Boston metropolitan area and is already associated with it on celluloid through movies like "Gone Baby Gone" and "Good Will Hunting." However, his reputation took a hit after sexual harassment allegations against him surfaced, and ultimately, his Boston Strangler film never materialized.

This new "Boston Strangler" project, with Knightley and Coon playing figures who "challenged the sexism" of the 1960s, originates from filmmaker Matt Ruskin. He previously wrote and directed the LaKeith Stanfield starrer, "Crown Heights," which won the Audience Award at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. When Deadline first broke the news of Knightley's casting last month, it noted that Ruskin had "researched McLaughlin and Cole by tracking down their families and their actual research from the early '60s."

The Boston Strangler case was also the subject of a 1968 film appropriately called "The Boston Strangler," starring Tony Curtis and Henry Fonda. Ridley Scott is co-producing this new movie through his production company, Scott Free.

"Boston Strangler" begins shooting in December.