It’s no surprise that true crime has continued to become a very popular, if not sometimes controversial, subgenre in the world of streaming. Netflix has premiered a variety of true crime shows and films to varying degrees of popularity and success. Now it appears that Hulu will be getting into the game with Boston Strangler starring Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon.
Fans of both Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon will be excited to know that both have big parts in the Hulu Original – as their characters are ultimately the ones that realize the string of murders set around Boston were actually performed by one individuals. As such, they played a key part in the investigation to uncover the truth of the serial killer who killed more than a dozen women in the 1960s.
The first look at the upcoming true crime film reveals Knightley and Coon, a pair of journalists, who will attempt to uncover the mystery of the notorious real-life serial killer.
Here are the first look photos via Empire for Boston Strangler:
EXCLUSIVE 🚨
Here’s a first look at Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon in #BostonStrangler – playing journalists tracking down the serial killer.
Read Empire’s interview with director Matt Ruskin: https://t.co/sU3CR9ux5w pic.twitter.com/09BWfPuDBJ
— Empire Magazine (@empiremagazine) January 3, 2023
¡Primeras imágenes de #BostonStrangler!
El thriller que sigue a dos periodistas mientras intentan resolver el caso de un misterioso asesino en serie, protagonizado por Keira Knightley y Carrie Coon, que se estrenará en Star Plus el próximo 17 de marzo. pic.twitter.com/663RV6a6e7
— El Séptimo Arte (@elseptimoarteok) January 5, 2023
True crime aficionados will certainly have plenty to look forward to. With a cast that includes such talents as Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon, it will certainly be an exciting addition to the growing subgenre. And, hopefully, the film will deliver a faithful and respectful interpretation of those terrible events that occurred decades ago.
The film was written and directed by Matt Ruskin.
Interestingly, Ruskin described how he slowly came across the story which led to the film.
“Having grown up in Boston, I had always heard of the Strangler in a very abstract sense, but I didn’t really know anything about the details of the case and a few years ago, I started reading about it and discovered a really fascinating, layered serial killer story,” he says. “I always loved journalism stories and in researching the case, I discovered these two journalists, starting with Loretta McLaughlin, the first journalist to connect the murders, and in her reporting, she actually gave the Boston Strangler his name. It was a really monumental story for her in her career in the early 1960s. She was a very ambitious reporter in a male-dominated field and this was a real turning point for her.”
He also added:
“In reading about Loretta and her partner Jean Cole, the other reporter she worked with, I discovered that Jean Cole’s granddaughter is an old friend of mine,” Ruskin reveals. “I called her up and said, ‘is the Jean Cole your grandmother?’ She said yes, and that she had adored her and so she introduced me to both Loretta and Jean’s families, and they welcomed me with open arms, they gave me access to old photos, clippings and really shared the histories with me. So at that point, I was really hooked and devoted to telling their stories.”
Finally, he added how they shot the film despite so many old Boston locations no longer existing:
“A lot of old Boston doesn’t exist any more,” he explains. “There are certainly old neighbourhoods with old buildings, but it’s very difficult to shoot a period film these days, particularly in Boston where so much has changed. There’s always some element that’s not right for the period. We shot in the winter and some of those cars just don’t start in the middle of January! But we had a wonderful group of people and I’m proud that we shot the film in Boston, very close to a lot of the real locations, it was an incredible opportunity to be able to recreate that period.”
In addition to Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon, the film also stars Alessandro Nivola, David Dastmalchian, Morgan Spector, Bill Camp, and Chris Cooper.
Fans will be able to see Boston Strangler when it premieres via Hulu on March 17, 2023. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional updates on the highly-anticipated Hulu Original as we have them. For now, however, it’s exciting getting to see our first look at both Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon in the upcoming project.