Patriots Day, CBS Films and Lionsgate’s real-life drama based on the marathon bombings that rocked the city of Boston three years ago, is already a crowded affair. But we now have word that the studios have recruited one final trio to feature in Peter Berg’s Oscar-tipped thriller.
It’s quite the threesome, too, headlined by Melissa Benoist of Supergirl fame – on board to portray Katherine Russell, wife to one of the two convicted terrorisits, Tamerlan Tsarnaev – Khandi Alexander and Jake Picking (The Way, Way Back). In terms of the latter duo, Alexander is playing a law enforcement interrogator, while Picking is attached to the role of MIT officer Sean Collier.
Remember we mentioned that ensemble cast? Reuniting with his Lone Survivor helmer – before the pair make it three-for-three with this year’s Deepwater Horizon – Mark Wahlberg leads the charge against the suspected offenders as Sgt. Tommy Saunders, a decorated officer in blue who is described as a “composite Boston Police Department officer who leads the manhunt for the chief suspects.”
He’s part of a casting docket that comprises John Goodman, J.K. Simmons, Michelle Monaghan, Kevin Bacon, Michael Beach, Jimmy O. Yang, Vincent Curatola, Alex Wolff, James Colby, Themo Melikidze, Rachel Brosnahan and Christopher O’Shea.
Set for release on December 21 – opening against Justin Kurzel’s live-action Assassin’s Creed movie – Peter Berg’s Patriots Day will shoot for Oscar glory before the year’s end, and only then will we able to gauge whether the director can find balance amid such a star-studded ensemble.
