David Dastmalchian (“The Suicide Squad,” “Dune”) has joined the cast of true crime film “Boston Strangler” that’s set at 20th Century Studios and tells the story of the Boston Strangler murders in the 1960s.
Keira Knightley, Carrie Coon, Alessandro Nivola and Chris Cooper are also attached to star. Details about Dastmalchian’s role are being kept under wraps.
Knightley will portray Loretta McLaughlin, who was the first reporter to connect the murders and break the story of the Strangler. She and fellow reporter Jean Cole challenged the sexism of the early ’60s to report on the city’s most notorious serial killer and worked tirelessly to keep women informed. McLaughlin pursued the story at great personal risk and uncovered corruption that cast doubt on the true identity of the Boston Strangler.
Matt Ruskin (“Crown Heights”) will write the original screenplay and direct the film, and Ridley Scott and Kevin Walsh of Scott Free Productions will produce. Tom Ackerley and Josey McNamara of LuckyChap Entertainment will also produce.
Ruskin is a Boston native, and he researched the film by speaking with McLaughlin and Cole’s families and going through their reporting research from the early ’60s.
Shooting is likely to begin in December 2021 in Boston.
Sam Roston will oversee for Scott Free and Bronte Payne for LuckyChap. Sarah Shepard is overseeing for 20th Century Studios.
Dastmalchian most recently starred as Polka Dot Man in James Gunn’s “The Suicide Squad” and as the villainous Piter De Vries in “Dune.”
Dastmalchian is represented by Atlas Artists and Duncan Hedges at Hansen, Jacobson, Teller.
The Hollywood Reporter first reported the news.