Jon Hamm Joins Ben Affleck's Directorial Effort The Town

After Gone Baby Gone, which I quite liked, I'm excited for Ben Affleck's upcoming follow-up The Town, which starts shooting in Charlestown, MA next month. I'm more excited now that Variety reports Jon Hamm has joined the cast, as has Frost/Nixon's Rebecca Hall. The film is an adaptation of Chuck Hogan's novel Prince of Thieves. (And yeah, that's the same Chuck Hogan that co-authored The Strain with Guillermo del Toro.) Affleck stars in the film, and Hamm plays an FBI agent who is his adversary in more ways than one, which I'll explain after the jump.

Prince of Thieves follows Doug McRay (Affleck), a thief from Charlestown, the neighborhood just north of downtown Boston. McRay robs a bank but soon falls for Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall), the manager of the bank. She lets things proceed, not realizing that he was under the mask of the guy who robbed and traumatized her. Meanwhile the FBI agent played by Hamm is trying to catch McRay and also seemingly falls for Hall.

That all sounds tidy and contrived, but Affleck told Collider that he'll use a very realistic take on crime.

Rather than a heist movie it's very realistic.  You see how the guys really operate and what they really do.  It's about their lives, the connection to one another, and the way that where they live is changing. It's unusual and kind of complicated for a movie that has a conventional genre at its root.

There's also a big climax in Fenway Park, which Affleck has previously said he's negotiating to use as a location in the film. If Fenway let Fever Pitch shoot in the stands, lets hope they don't shy away from this.

Given the sure hand for character Affleck showed in Gone Baby Gone, I'm hoping this will indeed be more than just another crime movie. He was previously able to nail the deep personalities of his Boston characters, and I'm hoping he follows through and hits another home run. Hopefully, the major change that will happen next is to the film's title. Affleck said The Town may not end up being the final title, and I pray that is the case.