Having been placed on the back burner while Ben Affleck, now donning the cape and cowl for Warner Bros., attended to matters in the DC expanded universe, the actor-cum-director’s adaptation of Live By Night is firmly back in the limelight once more. Having drafted in the likes of Scott Eastwood and Chris Messina of The Mindy Project fame in recent times, the Prohibition-era drama has now welcomed Brendan Gleeson aboard its star-studded cast.
Fresh from his role in Suffragette, word of Gleeson’s addition was first reported by Deadline, with the outlet confirming that the actor will portray the role of Affleck’s father. Adapted from Dennis Lehane’s acclaimed novel of the same name, the story of Live By Night orbits around Joe Coughlin (Affleck), the son of a respected police captain who flies in the face of his family name when he descends into a world of organized crime.
Playing the brother of Affleck’s lead character, Scott Eastwood will also play an instrumental part of Live By Night‘s ensemble, though it is Joe Coughlin that will set about building a criminal empire, chasing a fleeting sense of the American Dream that became such a prominent theme of the roarings 20s. From his Boston roots, our protagonist will encounter underground distilleries, shady gangsters and corrupt cops.
As the creative mind behind the excellent, mind-bending Shutter Island, Lehane’s Prohibition thriller is ripe for the picking, and with a cast that also includes Zoe Saldana, Sienna Miller, Elle Fanning and Chris Cooper, Warner Bros. is firmly behind Ben Affleck’s vision.
After wrapping up work on Justin Kurzel’s live-action rendition of Assassin’s Creed, Brendan Gleeson will hit the high seas for Ron Howard’s In The Heart of the Sea. Live By Night, meanwhile, is set to release on October 7, 2016.
