{"id":30369,"date":"2023-02-21T18:31:59","date_gmt":"2023-02-21T17:31:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1789486"},"modified":"2023-02-22T08:49:36","modified_gmt":"2023-02-22T07:49:36","slug":"boston-strangler-director-says-theres-more-to-story-as-trailer-launches","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/boston-strangler-director-says-theres-more-to-story-as-trailer-launches\/","title":{"rendered":"Boston Strangler director says \u201cthere\u2019s more\u201d to story as trailer launches"},"content":{"rendered":"

Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon star in the true crime film which arrives on Disney Plus next month. <\/p>

By Patrick Cremona\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 21 February 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

It\u2019s well documented that the true crime genre has been thriving in recent years, both on the big and small screens, and the upcoming movie Boston Strangler is the latest film to continue that trend.<\/p>\n

The trailer for the film \u2013 which you can watch below \u2013 has just been released ahead of its arrival on Disney Plus<\/a> next month, and to mark the occasion writer and director Matt Ruskin spoke exclusively to RadioTimes.com<\/a> about what viewers can expect.<\/p>\n\n<p>As can be seen in the trailer, the film retells the story of an investigation into a spate of fatal strangulations that occurred in Boston in the early \u201960s, which previously formed the basis for a 1968 Richard Fleischer movie.<\/p>\n<p>But whereas that earlier film focused on the case from the point of view of the police, the new movie shifts to the perspective of Record American journalists Loretta McLaughlin and Jean Cole, played in the film by Keira Knightly and Carrie Coon respectively.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had seen that [1968] film and then a few years ago I started reading about the Boston Strangler case,\u201d Ruskin explains when asked about the origins of the film.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI read the Gerold Frank book from which that movie is largely based on and then I started reading all these other books and I discovered a very layered and compelling murder mystery at the heart of this story that really wasn\u2019t touched on in the 1968 film.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo that really grabbed me \u2013 looking at how there\u2019s a lot more to this story. And I thought that would be really worth telling, but I couldn\u2019t get excited about telling a hard-boiled detective story, it just didn\u2019t seem to add up.\u201d<\/p> <p>He added that after seeing a \u201creally brief\u201d interview with McLaughlin, he discovered that she had actually been the one to break the story of the Boston Strangler, and from there the process of finding an angle for his film really began to pick up momentum.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe was the first to connect the murders and she actually gave the Boston Strangler his name while she was reporting on the story,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd so I tried to find out all I could about her. There\u2019s very little information about her or the other journalist, Jean Cole, who she was partnered with.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd I discovered that Jean Cole\u2019s granddaughter was actually a friend of mine, so I called her up and she introduced me to both Loretta and Jean\u2019s families. And once I was able to make a personal connection to them I became really invested in telling the story through them. The more I got to know about them, the more I grew to admire them, both as people and as journalists.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\""headline\" post-header__title=\"\" post-header__title--headline-layout=\"\">\n<ul><li class=\""heading-1"\"><a href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/movies\/all-quiet-on-the-western-front-awards-interview\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener" noopener noreferrer\">All Quiet on the Western Front star on \u201cbig surprise\u201d of awards success<\/a><\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\""headline\" post-header__title=\"\" post-header__title--headline-layout=\"\"><a href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/movies\/ant-man-evangeline-lilly-wasp-movie-female-exclusive-newsupdate\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener" noopener noreferrer\">Ant-Man\u2019s Evangeline Lilly wants Wasp movie with all-female cast and crew<\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<p>One thing that immediately comes across in the trailer is the attention to detail in Ruskin\u2019s recreation of Boston in the \u201960s, and the director said that \u201cauthenticity of time and place\u201d was absolutely crucial when crafting the piece.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did a ton of research while I was writing the film,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I worked with an incredible production designer named John Goldsmith who did so much research about the architecture, the colour palettes \u2013 he was so committed to getting it right.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was amazing to be able to work with him and to work with this costume designer named Arjun Bhasin who pulled together a lot of clothes from that period that were just really striking, but also felt very lived and of the period. So it was a huge challenge, but a lot of fun to go back and really try and get all of the little details, right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Ruskin said that Knightley was the \u201cdream person\u201d to play the lead role of Loretta, while lavishing just as much praise on her co-star Coon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Knightley] just possesses all the qualities of this character and I think she also identified personally with a woman trying to balance career and family,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo she responded to the script and Carrie Coon similarly is just such an extraordinary talent and really has so many qualities that Jean Cole had \u2013 she\u2019s razor sharp and funny and scrappy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo it was dream casting for those two roles, and they\u2019re so talented and so committed. And it was just a real privilege to get to work with them.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\""image-handler__container\" image-handler__container--aspect=\"\" style=\""padding-bottom:\" calc=\"\"> <picture><source media=\""(max-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/02\/Boston-Strangler-f33324c.jpg?webp=true&quality=90&resize=299%2C199,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/webp"\"><source media=\""(max-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/02\/Boston-Strangler-f33324c.jpg?quality=90&resize=299%2C199,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/jpeg"\"><source media=\""(max-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/02\/Boston-Strangler-f33324c.jpg?webp=true&quality=90&resize=354%2C236,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/webp"\"><source media=\""(max-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/02\/Boston-Strangler-f33324c.jpg?quality=90&resize=354%2C236,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/jpeg"\"><source media=\""(max-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/02\/Boston-Strangler-f33324c.jpg?webp=true&quality=90&resize=404%2C269,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/webp"\"><source media=\""(max-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/02\/Boston-Strangler-f33324c.jpg?quality=90&resize=404%2C269,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/jpeg"\"><source media=\""(max-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/02\/Boston-Strangler-f33324c.jpg?webp=true&quality=90&resize=554%2C369,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/webp"\"><source media=\""(max-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/02\/Boston-Strangler-f33324c.jpg?quality=90&resize=554%2C369,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/jpeg"\"><source media=\""(min-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/02\/Boston-Strangler-f33324c.jpg?webp=true&quality=90&resize=620%2C413,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/webp"\"><source media=\""(min-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/02\/Boston-Strangler-f33324c.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/jpeg"\"><source media=\""(min-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/02\/Boston-Strangler-f33324c.jpg?webp=true&quality=90&resize=407%2C271,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/webp"\"><source media=\""(min-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/02\/Boston-Strangler-f33324c.jpg?quality=90&resize=407%2C271,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/jpeg"\"><source media=\""(min-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/02\/Boston-Strangler-f33324c.jpg?webp=true&quality=90&resize=555%2C370,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/webp"\"><source media=\""(min-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/02\/Boston-Strangler-f33324c.jpg?quality=90&resize=555%2C370,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/jpeg"\"><img class=\""wp-image-1789600\" align=\"\" size-landscape_thumbnail=\"\" image-handler__image=\"\" image-handler__image--aspect=\"\" no-wrap=\"\" js-lazyload=\"\" data-src=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/02\/Boston-Strangler-f33324c.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" width=\""620"\" height=\""413"\" alt=\"""\" title=\"""\"\/><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div><div class=\""caption-hold"\"><figcaption class=\""wp-caption-text"\"><span class=\""caption-copy"\"><i class=\""icon-arrow\" icon-camera-circle=\"\"\/> Carrie Coon as Jean Cole and Keira Knightley as Loretta McLaughlin in\u00a0Boston Strangler.<\/span><\/figcaption><span class=\""im-image-caption"\"> <i>Disney<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<p>So, what exactly can viewers expect when the film arrives on Disney Plus a month today? Well, Ruskin said that for him the movie is first and foremost about identity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBoth the identity of who is the Boston Strangler, but also the identity of the city of Boston \u2013 from all accounts, it really changed the city. It was a story that gripped people for almost two years and it really changed the way people lived in the city of Boston. There\u2019s this anecdote that people didn\u2019t lock their doors before the Boston Strangler case.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd then, of course, I think it\u2019s very much a story of identity for Loretta who was working very hard to do serious journalism in a male-dominated newsroom in the early 1960s. [It\u2019s about] what it meant to be a journalist and mother and woman during that time.\u201d<\/p> <div class=\""brightcove\" embed=\"\"> <div class=\""embed__intrinsic"\"> <div class=\""brightcove__player\" vjs-playlist-player-container=\"\"> <video data-video-id=\""6319545966112"\" data-account=\""69912529001"\" data-player=\""ByeOf0VZEl"\" data-embed=\""default"\" data-application-id=\"\" controls=\"\" class=\""video-js"\"\/><\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<script src=\""\/\/players.brightcove.net\/69912529001\/ByeOf0VZEl_default\/index.min.js"\"\/><p><strong>Boston Strangler will be released on Disney Plus on Friday 17th March. Yo<\/strong><strong>u can <a href=\"\/\/disneyplus.bn5x.net\/c\/1236178\/564546\/9358?subId1=radiotimes-0&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.disneyplus.com%2Fen-gb"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""sponsored" noopener noreferrer\">sign up to Disney Plus for \u00a37.99 a month or \u00a379.90 for a year<\/a>\u00a0now.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Looking for something else to watch? Visit our\u00a0<a href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/tv-listings\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener noopener noreferrer\" noreferrer=\"\">TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/streaming-guide\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener" noopener noreferrer\">Streaming Guide<\/a>\u00a0to see what\u2019s on tonight.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Try Radio Times magazine today and get 12 issues for only \u00a31 with delivery to your home\u00a0<\/strong><strong>\u2013\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"\/\/radiotimes.com\/magazine-subscription?utm_term=evergreen-article"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener noopener noreferrer\" noreferrer=\"\" data-auth=\""NotApplicable"\" data-safelink=\""true"\" data-linkindex=\""0"\"><strong>subscribe now<\/strong><\/a><strong>. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/audio\/podcasts\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener noopener noreferrer\" noreferrer=\"\" data-auth=\""NotApplicable"\" data-safelink=\""true"\" data-linkindex=\""1"\"><strong>Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast<\/strong><\/a><strong>.<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon star in the true crime film which arrives on Disney Plus next month. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":30370,"template":"","categories":[6],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/02\/boston-strangler-director-says-theres-more-to-story-as-trailer-launches.jpg",1151,767,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/02\/boston-strangler-director-says-theres-more-to-story-as-trailer-launches-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/02\/boston-strangler-director-says-theres-more-to-story-as-trailer-launches-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/02\/boston-strangler-director-says-theres-more-to-story-as-trailer-launches-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/02\/boston-strangler-director-says-theres-more-to-story-as-trailer-launches-1024x682.jpg",800,533,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/02\/boston-strangler-director-says-theres-more-to-story-as-trailer-launches.jpg",1151,767,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/02\/boston-strangler-director-says-theres-more-to-story-as-trailer-launches.jpg",1151,767,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon star in the true crime film which arrives on Disney Plus next month.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/30369"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}