Oscar winner Ben Affleck (“Argo”) directed and stars in the dramatic crime thriller “Live by Night.”
Affleck also wrote the screenplay based on the award-winning best-seller by Dennis Lehane, marking the second collaboration for the fellow Boston natives, following the acclaimed drama “Gone Baby Gone.”
“Live by Night” is set in the roaring `20s when Prohibition hasn’t stopped the flow of booze in an underground network of gangster-run speakeasies.
The opportunity to gain power and money is there for any man with enough ambition and nerve and Joe Coughlin, the son of the Boston Police Superintendent, long ago turned his back on his strict upbringing for the spoils of being an outlaw.
But even among criminals there are rules and Joe breaks a big one: crossing a powerful mob boss by stealing his money and his moll.
The fiery affair ends in tragedy, setting Joe on a path of revenge, ambition, romance and betrayal that propels him out of Boston and up the ladder of Tampa’s steamy rum-running underworld.
“Live by Night” is produced by Leonardo DiCaprio (“The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Out of the Furnace”) and Jennifer Davisson (“The Ides of March,” “Orphan”), under the Appian Way banner; and Ben Affleck and Jennifer Todd (“Alice in Wonderland,” “Across the Universe”) for Pearl Street Films. Chris Brigham, Chay Carter and Dennis Lehane are serving as executive producers.
Starring with Affleck are Elle Fanning (“Maleficent”), Chris Messina (“Argo,” “The Mindy Project”), Sienna Miller (“American Sniper,” “Foxcatcher”), Zoe Saldana (“Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Avatar”), and Oscar winner Chris Cooper (“Adaptation,” “The Town”). The cast also includes Max Casella, (“Inside Llewyn Davis,” “Blue Jasmine”), J.D. Evermore (“Dallas Buyers Club”), Remo Girone (“Heaven”), Robert Glenister (“Persuasion”), Anthony Michael Hall (“Foxcatcher”), Matthew Maher (“Gone Baby Gone”), Miguel J. Pimentel, Chris Sullivan (“The Drop”) and Titus Welliver (“Argo,” “The Town”).
Behind the scenes, Affleck collaborated with three-time Oscar-winning director of photography Robert Richardson (“JFK,” “The Aviator,” “Hugo”) Oscar-nominated production designer Jess Gonchor (“True Grit,” “Foxcatcher”), Oscar-winning editor William Goldenberg (“Argo”), and Oscar-nominated costume designer Jacqueline West (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Argo”). The score is composed by Harry Gregson-Williams (“The Martian,” “Gone Baby Gone”).
Slated for release on Jan. 13, 2017, “Live By Night” is a presentation of Warner Bros. Pictures, to be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.
