Casey Affleck to Star in ‘Boston Strangler’ for Director Mark Romanek

Casey Affleck is returning to the town he grew up in and the spot of some of his most famous movie roles for the Warner Bros. thriller 'Boston Strangler,' which now has Mark Romanek ('Never Let Me Go') attached to direct.

Based on the true-crime story from the early-1960s, Variety is reporting that 'Boston Strangler' would follow the murders of serial killer Albert DeSalvo and the detective (Affleck) desperately trying to solve the case. If it sounds a little bit like 'Seven' meets 'Zodiac' that's because the film is being described as 'Seven' meets 'Zodiac.'

The real Boston Strangler sexually assaulted and killed 13 women over two years in Boston. Unlike the Zodiac killer in San Francisco, Albert DeSalvo eventually was caught and confessed to the Boston Strangler murders. Despite some doubts about his confession, a DNA study conducted in 2013 proved without a doubt that DeSalvo was the culprit.

What really has us excited for the movie is the participation of Mark Romanek, one of the best directors not working in Hollywood. Romanek, who you likely know from his groundbreaking music video work (NIN's "Closer" and Johnny Cash's "Hurt" among them) has one made two movies since 2004 ('Never Let Me Go' and 'One Hour Photo'), but that's not for a lack of trying.

Romanek was attached to direct Tom Hanks in another true-crime tale, 'A Cold Case' but the project eventually fell apart. He then signed on to direct an adaptation of James Frey's 'A Million Little Pieces' until it came out that Frey had fabricated sections of his own memoir. Then, there was 'The Wolfman,' which came very close to filming until Romanek and Universal suffered "creative differences" and he was replaced by Joe Johnston weeks before filming was set to begin. Most recently, Romanek was developing the live-action 'Cinderella' movie, which seemed like an odd fit and eventually Disney realized it was an odd fit (not surprisingly, Romanek was working on a "darker" version) and the two parted ways.

Romanek is well-respected in Hollywood and remains good friends with colleagues like David Fincher and Spike Jonze and it's just a matter of time before he finds the right project to get him making movies again. 'Boston Strangler' seems like a great fit and let's hope this one actually happens.

Casey Affleck can be seen next in Christopher Nolan's 'Interstellar.'