The new film Boston Strangler from 20th Century Studios has landed a lead actress in the form of Keira Knightley, according to Deadline. The project will be written and directed by Matt Ruskin, best known for Crown Heights. Producers include Ridley Scott and Kevin Walsh for Scott Free and Tom Ackerley and Josey McNamara for LuckyChap Entertainment, which was cofounded by actress Margot Robbie.
Knightley is set to portray Loretta McLaughlin, a journalist who was the first reporter to connect the Boston Strangler murders and break the story, along with fellow reporter Jean Cole. The two women were instrumental in transforming a profession riddled with sexism and ensure that they could keep women updated on what they were learning at the time. Ruskin, who hails from Boston, looked into McLaughlin and Cole’s backgrounds and families to build the story for the film, which begins shooting in Boston in December.
Cole and McLaughlin’s investigation let to generate public attention in the murders, with authorities eventually identifying 13 women murders between 1962 and 1964 as victims of the Strangler. In 1967, Albert DeSalvo — who confessed to being the Boston Strangler and was sentenced life in prison, and was later killed by a fellow in mate in 1973.
Knightly recently appeared in two selections that screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, the black comedy Silent Night, slated for release on AMC+ in December, and as the voice of the title character, artist Charlotte Salomon, in the animated feature Charlotte. Other recent real-life roles Knightley took on include translator-turned-whistleblower Katharine Gun in Official Secrets, the famed French author in Colette, and codebreaker Joan Clarke in The Imitation Game.