If you've ever followed Ben Affleck or Matt Damon's work, you know that they love Boston like not even the most loyal chowder fanatics can. They have such deep roots in the East Coast city that Damon gives lessons on how to correctly nail the local accent and Affleck stopped to watch a Red Sox game while he was on the red carpet for the premiere of his own movie. They've each starred in a handful of Boston-based movies, including The Town, Good Will Hunting, Gone Baby Gone, and The Departed.
Now, the pair are coming together to executive produce a Boston drama, City on a Hill, for Showtime. According to Entertainment Weekly, the drama is set in the '90s and focuses on "The Boston Miracle," a period of time in which there were no reported teenage homicide victims following over a decade of heavy gang violence. To reduce deaths, local law enforcement and leaders such as ministers and social workers took a more hands-on approach in working with youth.
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In addition to outreach, Slate reports they deterred crime by threatening to essentially make life unbearable for drug dealers. Of course, their plan involved targeting people, which led to a lot of racism throughout the community.
Showtime announces new pilot EP'd by Ben Affleck & Matt Damon, and directed by Gavin O’Connor about crime & corruption in early 90s Boston pic.twitter.com/tJWzak1eku
— Jarett Wieselman (@JarettSays) July 27, 2017
Affleck and Damon's show will center on "an African-American district attorney who comes in from Brooklyn advocating change and the unlikely alliance he forms with a corrupt yet venerated F.B.I. veteran who is invested in maintaining the status quo," according to a release obtained by BuzzFeed. Written by Chuck McLean and executive produced by Affleck, Damon, Gavin O'Connor, Jennifer Todd, and James Mangold, the show promises to be an exciting thriller.
"Chuck wrote a pressure-cooker of a script steeped in the tribal codes of a Shakespeare play — family, blood, betrayal, honor," O'Connor said in a statement. "His take on the ties that bind is handled with a deep honesty and insight. I see the show as a brawling thriller — and an intimate family drama — played out on the rough streets of Boston."