“Powerful men don’t have to be cruel.” Bringing an end to a four-year wait, Warner Bros. has premiered our first look at Ben Affleck’s Prohibition-era drama Live By Night in action ahead of a planned release in January.
Having been attached to the adaptation from the get-go, Affleck wrote and directed this cinematic spin on Dennis Lehane’s novel of the same name, one that will also have him lead the charge as Joe Coughlin, the enigmatic son of a Boston Police Superintendent who trades a chance to uphold the family name for a life of organized crime. Set against the Roaring ’20s, Live By Night is the Argo follow-up many have been waiting for, particularly those unconcerned by Affleck’s ongoing tenure donning the cape and cowl for WB.
Expect tommy guns, thick Boston accents and illicit shenanigans across the board, as Ben Affleck’s Joe Coughlin learns the true cost of the American dream and, essentially, how to be a gangster. Elle Fanning, Sienna Miller, Chris Messina, Chris Cooper, Titus Welliver, Scott Eastwood, and Brendan Gleeson also star.
Turns out Elle Fanning was a little off base; Live By Night will actually invite moviegoers into Affleck’s seedy criminal underworld on January 13, 2017.
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.
