Casting on Ben Affleck’s Prohibition-era feature Live By Night shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon. In recent weeks, we’ve seen the likes of Scott Eastwood, Brendan Gleeson and The Mindy Project‘s Chris Messina board the ensemble drama, and The Wrap is reporting that Affleck has just added a familiar face to the line-up.
Welcoming an old cohort to the fray in Titus Welliver – the pair collaborated on Gone Baby Gone, The Town and Argo – the outlet confirms that Welliver will make it four for four in Affleck’s directorial career, starring as a glowering mob boss that crosses paths with the film’s disillusioned protagonist.
That’s a role that belongs to Affleck himself, who toplines Live By Night as Joe Coughlin, the rowdy son of a decorated police captain (Gleeson) who becomes drawn into the underworld of organized crime. Threatening to sully the family name, Coughlin uproots from his Boston home to Florida and even Havana, Cuba as he becomes entangled in a web of lies and deceit.
While Warner Bros. nor The Wrap would disclose any official information pertaining to Welliver’s role, sources close to the nascent drama indicate that the actor will assume the part of Tim Hickey, boss to Coughlin’s motley crew who acts as something of a guiding force as Affleck’s protagonist finds himself venturing deeper and deeper into the country’s criminal underbelly.
Warner Bros. is positioning Live By Night to release at some point in 2017, which ought to act as a welcome respite from Ben Affleck’s tenure as the Caped Crusader. With a star-studded cast in place – including Zoe Saldana, Sienna Miller, Elle Fanning and Chris Cooper – we expect the cameras will get rolling sooner rather than later.
