We thought Ben Affleck’s next directorial effort would be based on the novel Prince of Thieves, another Boston crime story. But a new deal suggests that he could instead chronicle some real world intrigue and skullduggery by tackling the tale of a murdered Arizona Republic reporter.
Don Bolles was killed by a car bomb in 1976; he was investigating the motion made by organized crime into the Arizona state government. He was looking into New York, Detroit and Chicago mobsters in Phoenix. After being lured to a meeting downtown, his car was blown up and Bolles died a few days later. The result was that a group of national journalists filed many investigative stories focused on politics in Phoenix in an effort to finish Bolles’ work.
I can’t claim to know many more details, but I like this idea a lot more than seeing Affleck go back to Boston. If he can bring the same moral, personal touch that made Gone Baby Gone so memorable, this might work spectacularly well. Affleck worked up a pitch with screenwriter Sheldon Turner (The Longest Yard) and Miramax is funding.