By the time Affleck directed and starred in the film, Bostons oldest neighbourhood, a small squarish outcrop situated north of the Charles river, was no longer the crime capital of America. Tuesday October 30, 2012. Tensions between the locals and wealthier transplants underscore the film. We did not have legal clearance to use the logo. But wrapping that in the sort of candy shell of a heist movie. Beyond the flashy heists, The Townrenamed because Prince of Thieves had already been used as the subtitle of Kevin Costners version of Robin Hoodis a movie about fate, loyalty, and morality, and how those things commingle. Heist movies are filled with criminals who want to pull one last big job and settle down. Crockett: I vividly remember it. It went on to make $154 million (119 million) worldwide. The way John tells the story is, Of course I do two [moves] on him and Ive got him and he cant move, and [Afflecks] like, alright, alright, alright!. The Boston area was prime cinematic crime fields during the early 2000s. The 6-foot-tall Dorchester-born rapper is an intimidating physical presence with a raspy grumble of a voice flavored with a thick Boston accent. I was at that point in my career where every place I walked into I was trying to figure out how to write a robbery in that space. Just let me go in. She opened the door and I just walked in and Ben was there and he just burst out laughing. It kind of had a post-apocalyptic feeling to it. And I was like, Who the hell is this guy? Everyone was making New York movies. NO NAME GANG: CHARLESTOWN bank robbers. Welliver: On the page it was one thing, and he beat the page because rather than it being a scene that was about anger and aggression, Renner turned that scene into a scene about heartbreak and devastation. WebDoug MacRay (Ben Affleck) is an unrepentant criminal, the de facto leader of a group of ruthless bank robbers who pride themselves in stealing what they want and getting out clean. Forget it. It has a failed romance, a foiled heist, an unsolved crime, enough car chases for three movies, and yet is a coming-of-age film and a portrait of an eras end. Ex-felons are not allowed to hold even fake weapons. Carter: A woman named Ginaya Green, who was a 20-something- year-old, born and raised in Charlestown, let me come and take photos of her bedroom, and her house, and her decor. The productions biggest scoop, location-wise, was being granted permission to shoot the Fenway Park heist scene in the real Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. Hall: Hes just a very good storyteller. It very much had a sense of place. Determined to get a better grip on the place, he brought in another local, his old school friend Stockard, and began an intensive period of research. That whole character she did was really kind of based on her own preparation. And they told us all these stories, and all these fascinating things, and built up what this mythology was. In 1995, The Boston Globe reported that the neighborhood was a community to which more armored car robbers are traced than any other in the country, according to FBI statistics. Hogan recalls reading that and filing it away. When I saw it, I thought, Its fine. I wound up learning a lot from how Ben did that. And they led me into this little alleyway. We all sat there, and he did it. And Ben Affleck was incredibly famous already. We all want to drive a f----n caaar like Gloansy. Cooper: He got me about five [recorded] voices and one in particularthis one of somebody who had done timewas just so full of character and I just loved it, and so thats what I glommed onto. Director: Ben Affleck. The 1995 article in The Boston Globe, which inspired the films prologue, actually noted more armored car robbers are traced to Charlestown than any other neighborhood in the country. Oceans Eleven set the cinematic standard for a heist team. A U.S. District Court jury delivered guilty verdicts on 54 of 55 counts, including ones charging the five in the Aug. 25, 1994, robbery in Hudson in which two [It was] probably the most intense production that weve had at the ballparkfrom both an overall action perspective, but also the grandeur of it. BOSTON - A Charlestown man was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for bank robbery. He contributed to Altvariety, Chiseler, Smashpipe, and other magazines. But mostly a Boston accent depends on your socioeconomic status, by and large. These interviews have been condensed and edited for clarity. Ill use them because Im from Boston to get into Fenway. He set the bar with those filmsyou [must] reach a modicum of the depth and the artistry of those films if youre going to do a Boston film. WebDouglas "Doug" MacRay is a former career criminal and professional bank robber from Charlestown, Boston, which was the bank robbery capital of the world. Hed done his time. He loves her enough not to kill her, but not enough to testify. They ran mass auditions of up to 1,000 people at a time, Affleck recalls. But it was very real. But one of the greatest films about Boston goes back to 1973. Walking in I was feeling kind of glib. [Chairman] Tom Werners a friend of mine. I was still in the 70s mindset of, Oh thats how you end one of these movies. Affleck unequivocally contributed to that proliferation. The gang torches their escape cars and their transfer vehicles. Los Angles police on high alert for grand theft and planned robbery in town. Stockard: Obviously youre making a movie so you mythologize it a little bit. I watched a screening with a different ending and it hadnt been testing well. He didnt want to option it himself, so they set him up with [producer] Graham King, who got the option. They were all from Charlestown. Alexander Witt (second-unit director): We talked and we said, Lets do it as classic as possible.. Chuck Hogans novel Prince of Thieves opens with a toast: To Charlestown, our one square mile of brick and cobblestone. Then put it in Connecticut.. The case of the Charlestown robbers in the show grows to encompass and eventually upend Bostons citywide criminal justice system. Kim Mahoney of the In the 2000s, critically acclaimed, Irish Americancentered crime dramas like Clint Eastwoods Mystic River, Martin Scorseses The Departed, and Afflecks Gone Baby Gone had turned the Massachusetts capital into a Hollywood hot spot. For his turn as Jem, Renner was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, though he lost out to Christian Bale, who played the troubled brother of boxer Micky Ward in yet another movie set in Massachusetts: The Fighter. The robbers Slaine (Albert Gloansy Magloan): I was born in Dorchester, grew up there as a kid. What is the penalty for bank robbery in mass? Cooper: I dont know Jeremys height, but Ben is a pretty big boy. The full version. Hogan: Adrian really thought in more operatic terms, and he really wanted to do the book. Two guards -- Lawrence Johnson, 57, and Ronald Normandeau, 52 -- were shot to death while delivering money to the bank for North East Armored Transport Inc. of Manchester, N.H. Then they realized that were shooting a movie. They had to look and sound like they just rolled out of Old Sullys at 2 a.m. on a Sunday. Some of the scenes were shot on the real crime locations depicted. Im mighty proud of where I come from, he says. Affleck said he picked up the term from a guy at New Sullys bar:I asked, Whats the thing with the Tunies? And he said the Tunies moved in and the Townies stole all their car stereos. And he read and blew me away. The crew at the center of The Town resembles a gang of five masked robbers who pulled holdups from 1990 to 1995. He was the leader that he is. He came over and he was a little bit shy but she was speaking for him. 1 hospitalized after fire in West Town, CFD says . Hamm: We could all go, hang out at the bar; me and Rebecca, and Renner, and Titus, that whole crowd. Its fucking brilliant. Affleck: Its parochial and kind of a small town in some ways. When I got there, I went up on the walkway, on the first-base side, looking down. Carter: Someone was getting married. Solemn now: To The Town. There was a script written. Extremely plausible. The first or second take that he did, Jeremy wanted to do it on his own. Hall: I remember going to the premiere and a group of Charlestowners were there and they all said to me, You ever come back to Boston, well get you a car. The North End, Bostons Little Italy, is one of the citys smallest, densest, oldest neighborhoods; the asymmetrical Fenway Park, which fits snugly on a single block, is picturesque but impossibly cramped. She was doing Gossip Girl, which at the time people thought like, Oh, thats just a CW Y.A. I sort of pretended that Charlestown was still the way it used to be. Were like, Wait, hes about the right size, height, and all that other, he could be Bens stand-in. They dont fink. They are holding their automatic weapons and wearing their disguises. This really happened it was described to Affleck by a man serving time. Thats the thing, that theres a kind of ownership and its beautiful. NEW YORK -- The mystery began when a Boston ex-con dropped dead on a New York train platform with a backpack stuffed with $180,000. Afflecks reluctant bank robber Doug desparately wants to redefine himself as a serious Hollywood player after misfires like Gigli and Jersey Girl. Or why Affleck hired him to play a Charlestown bank robber in his new movie The Town.. They were about to buy it but they wanted to cut it, too. In so many ways, the project came along at the exact right time. It included a mastermind, a distraction, a partner, a coordinator, a backer, hacker, con man, and gadget guy. And that looks like a detail youd come up with writing a script. Its an action movie where you get to root for the bad guys. The cunning group is robbing city banks to steal money and making the getaway with diamond Heist. Then they look up to find a Boston cop reading a newspaper in his police car. The Ringers Bill Simmons, who lived in Charlestown for eight years, said on The Rewatchablesthat, of all films, this one makes me the most nostalgic for Boston. The bars in the film are real Charlestown bars:Old Sullys (for townies), where Douggie and Jem meet early on, and New Sullys (for yuppies), where Hamms FBI officer approaches Niki. There was one of my endings and Ben wrote a couple endings, and thats Bens ending that they used. In 2018, there were just over 4,000 robberies in Massachusetts compare that to 1980, when there more than 13,500. I keep waiting for someone of color, anyone whos not like me, this sort of Irish American crime writer, to figure it out and write another great Boston crime movie that doesnt look like all the ones weve seen. Hamm: I had also seen Dahmer. Its not just an accent, its more of an attitude. He was kind of hemming and hawing a little bit and I said, Look, unless they make you wear the fucking purple outfit and the mask, you gotta do this. He went, I know.. She is the interloping gentry and renovates Dougs headspace. Free shipping for many products! Craig: I hadnt really processed the new ending. WebFind many great new & used options and get the best deals for Lego Jail Prisoner Robber Crook Minifigure Lot of 12 w/ Accessories Town City at the best online prices at eBay! MacRay, who is a recovering addict with mommy issues, is more of a sociopath than Jem, who is only living the way the streets taught him. Gone Girl we shot a hundred days for a two-hour thriller. Affleck also embarked on a series of interviews with locals, including convicted robbers and members of the FBI violent crimes force. Slaine: Owen and I didnt have to listen to anybody. MacRay is a narcissist who uses Jems sister Krista (Blake Lively) for bathroom quickies, and Claire as a loophole. If the Herald said that, I mightve taken it more personally. But John is obviously a much bigger guy. And it is a bit like visiting royalty there, for me, in a way that I dont get in any other town or city in the world. One of those characters you love to hate and find sort of intoxicating and moving; all of those things at the same time. I remember the librarians called me the day before, just to confirm. Stockard: Do we want to punish this person or do we not? 2 hours ago. R Thriller Drama Crime Movie 2010. hd. Something the character of James (Jeremy Renner), aka Jem, could appreciate. This is their story. Every take had the same amount of tension and edge but it was just all over the place. Colin Burch (vice president of marketing and broadcasting, Boston Red Sox): We had filmed a number of movies before at Fenway, starting with Fever Pitch, and we did Ted, and RIPD, and Moneyball. He was quite clear. When fans of The Town think of Charlestown, they think of banks and bars and punchlines. When we started, I said, I need a driver whos Charlestown born and bred. Interestingly enough, my driver was a guy named John Fidler who was a major suspect in many bank robberies, and also bread truck robberies. Theyre incarcerated. Oct 31, 2012. In 2010, after his gang was eliminated, he fled to Tallahassee, It later served as inspiration for the Massachusetts natives third book. He goes, Yeah, you know, Ill tell you, Ty. The budget that we had previously was too high for us to make it. And then I realized, Maybe they think I can make movies more on the cheap.. Its something Ive seen other directors do. 371K. [Adrian Lyne did not respond to a request to be interviewed for this article.]. You werent sure exactly what he was gonna do, or how he was gonna behave, because it wasnt Matt Damon, whos always the hero and always wins out in the end. I feel like were still in the black. I was cutting out pieces of felt while Gina [Rhodes] was stitching themmaking, by hand, the fake Bruins logo. And he said, Well, there was a time I remember when we all had just robbed a truck and we pulled up to the switch car, and we all had our masks, and we were carrying a bag of money, and we pull up to the car, and we look over, and theres a cop doing lazy construction. And he just looked at us, and we looked at him, and he looked the other way. It all felt sort of very impossible and glamorous. The movie opened on September 17, 2010, to overwhelmingly positive reviews and eventually grossed $154 million at the worldwide box office. UPDATE: Ordered held in lieu of $50,000 bail, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports. Theres a lot of different stories to tell. On Feb. 7, 2019, Brady pleaded guilty to bank robbery. Find out more, The latest offers and discount codes from popular brands on Telegraph Voucher Codes, That's how you drive a f----n caaar: the second bank robbery was based on the 1995 Harvard Square heist, The moment when a cop sees a carload of nun-masked robbers and turns away was based on real life, Affleck sent Blake Lively to hang out in Charlestown bars to prepare for her role, Ben Affleck directs Jon Hamm on the set of The Town, Close, review: a soul-scorching portrait of boyhood friendship and loss, Whats on TV tonight: Stephen Fry: Willem & Frieda Defying the Nazis, Anorexic and more, When are the Oscars? And I was talking to people right next to him. We went back to his hotel room right after. Hamm: It was impressive. According to FBI statistics from the same year, the entire state of Massachusetts had fewer than 3 per cent of all bank robberies nationwide. And well, why not nuns and tactical gear? Her performance was savaged by some critics it features the Bride Wars of Boston accents, Wesley Morris wrote in the New York Times but history has been kinder to her. In Black Mass, Johnny Depp plays South Boston mobster James Whitey Bulger, an Irish gangster who informed on the Italian mob to the FBI. If they get popped, they do the time. Its more general American but with a kind of East Coast, sort of slightly privileged vibe. And so, constantly, Ben and I are trying to make it as real as possible. Another botched job referred to in the film the one for which Douggies father (Chris Cooper) was sent down for life for killing two guards was also inspired by a notorious bank heist gone wrong. When youre underneath in the concourse space, you could drop a keg at one end of the ballpark and have it reverberate all the way around. And bred next to him the early 2000s could be Bens stand-in whos Charlestown born and bred,! 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The Boston area was prime cinematic crime fields during the early 2000s know Jeremys height, and really... A hundred days for a two-hour thriller then I realized, Maybe they think I make. With the Tunies moved in and the Townies stole all their car stereos and well why...
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